


Cipher 9

by Tylanoid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Many Many Jedi, Many many Sith, SWTOR
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2019-11-08 22:04:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17989337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tylanoid/pseuds/Tylanoid
Summary: All my life I had no control. Not when I was with the Dursleys on Earth, and certainly not when I ended up on Nar Shaddaa as a pickpocketing street-kid. Joining the Sith Empire's Imperial Intelligence was supposed to bring order to that chaos. But one awfully timed invitation to magical school later, and my control was stripped once again.Or, where Harry is not a force user and joins Imperial Intelligence as an Agent, all before he ever attends Hogwarts.





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Sorry. But do you think you could help me for a moment?"

I couldn't help but smirk as I watched Bril do what Bril always did best. He was a remarkably smooth operator, and combined with his naturally beautiful Twi'leki features and his honey-toned voice, people didn't mind stopping for him. I could pull it off too, but I had to work harder at it than Bril ever did. Feigning kindness and innocence just came more naturally to my partner-in-crime than they did to me.

I approached the mark from behind. Bril's eyes never once left the man's face. When we were younger, little slips like that - eyes darting behind a target at an inopportune moment - would ruin any chance at success. Years of practice had fixed that. In distracting targets, Bril was unrivaled.

Our mark was a human dressed in fine clothes, probably a businessman of some sort and one with at least _some_ money, since he wasn't coated in grime and dust and didn't smell like a Hutt's back-side like most others on the smuggler's moon.

He was the perfect target for a pickpocket like me - too well dressed and confident to be poor, and foolish or naive enough to believe that he wouldn't get robbed walking through busy streets. Maybe he'd have been safe thinking like that on an inner rim planet, but not on Nar Shaddaa.

For a moon populated by gangsters, thieves and prostitutes, Nar Shaddaa seemed to have an odd propensity for attracting visitors that couldn't seem to watch their pockets." I suppose that's partially because nobody ever keeps anything truly valuable in their pockets, just a few credit chips or an odd trinket or two. Still, one would think that people who have money would be better at keeping it secure. I mean, I always kept their money more secure than they did after I stole it, so I know it's not all that difficult.

I guess I just valued their credits more than they did.

It might go too far to say that I _needed_ it more, but like most pickpockets, I had fewer options than the people from whom I was stealing. At least my targets could re-earn their credits - I had no choice but to steal to earn mine. One doesn't live long on Nar Shaddaa without any credits, after all.

As Bril kept the man talking, I stretched out my left hand, darting it precisely into the man's deep pocket and grabbing a handful of what felt like standard credit chips. The same as Bril's skill in keeping me unnoticed, my skill at smuggling items out of unsuspecting people's pockets came from experience. People on earth often say that practice makes perfect, and that certainly rung true with my skill in pick-pocketing.

As soon as my hand left his pocket, I cut away through the crowd and headed towards our meeting spot. I trusted Bril to end the conversation quickly and make his way over as usual so we could leave. Only an amateur would hang around. Most marks didn't notice we had robbed them until after, but if it happened sooner it was best to be well and truly gone.

I started moving as soon as Bril reached me, and he had to run to keep at my side as I ducked and weaved through the crowd. Luckily for both of us, we were both quite small for twelve-year-olds, and getting out of an area without a hassle was usually easy.

"Well?" Bril asked quietly when he reached my side. "Anything good?"

We stuck to the busier parts of the streets as we fled the scene. That was a skill learned from experience, too. Busy streets made it infinitely easier to hide compared to abandoned alleyways, especially given our size. Anyone chasing us would probably only have seen an ocean of heads, with us ducking in and out underneath it all.

"Just some credit chips," I grumbled. "Hopefully enough to keep Lady Kallis happy."

Bril looked disappointed at that, not that I could blame him. Most days we only made enough to break even, and despite all signs pointing to the fact that it would never happen, we always dreamed of making enough money to make it off such a backwater planet and live a decent life.

Like any of our targets, we too had bills to pay. Well, not bills per se, at least not in the traditional sense, but a percentage of everything we stole had to go towards Zorbo the Hutt's cartel. For protection and board, Lady Kallis claimed, and I couldn't disagree. The Hutt himself owned the brothel we lived in, and only a madman would steal from or attack a Hutt's property.

"You say that like she's _ever_ happy," Bril said after a few moments.

He had a point. One would have thought that someone valued so highly by Zorbo that he allowed her to run one of his most lucrative businesses would be a little happier. Doubtless she was making enough credits to fill a mountain, but still, she was… well, frankly, a rotten, evil bitch.

"She'd probably be a whole lot happier if you wouldn't push her buttons every other day," I said.

Bril didn't answer, but no doubt he was sticking his middle finger up behind me.

"Do we have time for another, do you think?" he asked.

I shook my head slightly. "Not worth the risk. It's getting kind of late."

We were part of what I liked to call day criminals. We still broke the law, or at least, whatever system vaguely resembled laws on Nar Shaddaa, but only ever through the day. Nights on Nar Shaddaa were entirely different. The night was the time for gangsters and more hardcore thieves, almost always armed, and in an altogether different league than us pick-pockets.

"Damn it. You're probably right," Bril said, sounding as frustrated as I was. But like me, he knew that it wasn't worth staying out and getting robbed ourselves, if not shot, stabbed or beaten.

 

* * *

 

I never stole alone, or did anything alone, not from my first day on Nar Shaddaa when I was five years old. Bril was always with me. Neither of us ever acted without the other, and we would never have been as successful stealing solo as we were as a pair.

Half of our success came down to pure genetics. Bril, though male himself, took very much after his beautiful mother, with a skin pigment of royal blue and a soft dusting of darker blue freckles across his nose. Twi'leks have always been known for their beauty and grace, and not only was this true for Bril, but he could easily have been the poster child for that entire reputation. Despite being noticeably male, he was prettier than most women.

It's a trait that never failed to garner attention, especially when we entered 'The House of Plom Bloom,' the brothel run by Lady Kallis that we called home. I always walked in front of Bril when we went through the central area of the brothel, trying my best to act as a physical barrier between the lecherous creatures and my friend. His good looks weren't always an asset.

It was hard to miss the ogling eyes from the brothel's patrons, especially from some of the disgusting, shameless creatures who didn't even bother to do it with subtlety. Only on Nar Shaddaa would people feel comfortable enough to admit their attraction to one so young. In more ways than just this, it really was the biggest shithole in the galaxy.

I spent the whole walk through the brothel mentally cursing at them with every horrible insult I knew, and continued doing my best to keep Bril shielded from their view. I almost had to bite my tongue to keep from speaking them aloud, and I would have if not for Lady Kallis. If ever I misbehaved on her watch, and especially in her brothel, I'd have been out on my ass within minutes. That's assuming she wouldn't just order me beaten to death instead. In the end, it was always best that I kept my mouth shut.

But Bril's lack of reaction made me just as angry. No doubt he felt like he needed a good scrub down after being leered at by so many filthy aliens, but still he refused to even give them so much as a glaring at. He was under the same rules as me with Lady Kallis, but just once I'd have loved to hear him tell one of them off. But he wouldn't do that, not while he wanted something from Lady Kallis.

We stepped into the back rooms past the familiar bouncers. Taking solace in the fact that the same men who'd just been leering at Bril would kill to go where we went without harm. The men and women who worked in the brothel usually washed and prepared themselves in the back rooms before heading out to their customers, not that we cared about such things. Living in a brothel had a funny way of numbing you to experiences that some people pay big money for.

Lady Kallis stepped out of her office as soon as we entered, somehow always knowing when we'd returned. It wouldn't have surprised me if it was because she could smell the credits on us, greedy as she was. To her, what we had was nothing, a single drop from a vast lake of wealth, but she wanted it anyway, and she wanted it all.

Although she wasn't physically imposing, Lady Kallis was still intimidating. Like all Cereans, she had a tall coned cranium and pale skin, and her glossy black hair flowed down her back like a sheet of silk. Unlike other Cereans, though, Lady Kallis' eyes were blood red and held a hint of danger and madness. She didn't need to be physically strong herself. She could have someone shaking with fright with a mere glance with those eyes.

"You two stink," came her pointedly sharp tones. "You'd better hope one of our patrons doesn't complain about the smell."

I wanted nothing more than to argue that she only lets us bathe once a week, and even then we were only given a handful of minutes each. She claimed it was so we didn't take time away from her girls. I didn't see how that could possibly be true, given that she didn't have workers using the showers all the time, but arguing would have been foolish. Lady Kallis wouldn't tolerate any backchat.

"Yes, Lady Kallis," I said. Next to me Bril said nothing, but he seemed suddenly jittery, and he was rolling back and forth on the balls of his feet.

_Don't do it, idiot._

"Is my mother available? Do you think I could see her?" Bril asked without a hint of fear in his voice, even though he probably knew what the answer would be, and the reaction that the mere question would cause.

"She's working. I've already had five requests for her tonight," Lady Kallis replied shortly.

"Well, maybe she could have a break?" Bril suggested, his deep blue eyes shimmering with vain hope.

Damn it. Just as I expected, Lady Kallis turned her vicious, terrifying eyes towards Bril. Before he could say or do anything else, she reached out and backhanded him across the cheek, one of her expensive rings carving a thin gash across his cheek. Blue blood welled and began to slide slowly down his face, but he still didn't flinch. Bril was the only person I had ever seen not to show her any fear, and she despised him for it.

"I said no, brat. Give me my credits and get out of my sight."

Before Bril could argue any further and cause us some _real_ trouble, I reached down for our daily take worth of credits and dropped them into her outstretched hand.

She tutted at the amount. "I hope you two are capable of more than this," she said, eyeing the small pile of credits with distaste. "Soon, you might be more trouble than you're worth."

When Lady Kallis stalked away and out into her brothel, I had to grab Bril's arm to get him moving. Whenever Bril was refused contact with his mother, he looked utterly destroyed. He let me guide him towards the stairs at the very back that led to the small storage room that Lady Kallis allowed us to sleep in. It was hot and musty and housed way too many spiders, but it was home.

"You really need to stop," I huffed as I finally let go of his arm at the bottom of the stairs. "One day she's going to get fed up and toss you to the streets."

"Shut up. My Mother wouldn't let her do that."

I let out a sigh. While it's true that Bril's mother was Lady Kallis' best courtesan, and the only reason she allowed us to live in the brothel, Bril always had a habit of overestimating how much influence she had. Really, she was just as replaceable as anyone else, though I could never have said as much to Bril.

When I went to answer, Bril was holding the side of his face, his thick blood sliding through his fingers from the cut on his face.

"Come here," I sighed, gesturing to a small box in front of me.

Still holding his face, Bril came over and sat on the box I was gesturing toward. I guided the hand away from his face to have a better look at the damage. Fortunately, it didn't look too deep, and though I was hardly an expert on medical work, I'd had enough cuts and contusions in my time to be sure enough that it wouldn't scar.

"Bloody idiot," I said fondly, mimicking some of the favorite and only words I could remember from my Uncle Vernon. "You know how unpredictable she can be."

I tore a small strip from the bottom of my shirt and wet it from our only source of water, a slightly leaking pipe on the wall. It wasn't perfect, but it at least let me clean the wound.

"Is it so wrong to want to see my mother?" Bril asked, tilting his head to the side to give me better access.

"You know I don't think that," I said, wiping at his face with the slightly wet cloth. "But I think sometimes you forget how dangerous she is."

"No I don't!" Bril argued loudly, pushing me away and fighting back tears. With a swift kick he sent the box sailing across the room and into the wall. "I just want to see my mother!" He snapped. "Why can't she just give me a few minutes?"

I never said a word in response. What could I have said, anyway? Telling Bril that things would change and Lady Kallis would eventually relent and let them spend some time together would have been a lie, and he wasn't stupid or naive enough to believe otherwise. In the end, there was nothing I could do but let him ride out his rage, maybe offer him what little comfort I could.

He was doing his best to fight back angry tears, but his eyes were definitely wet. I wrapped my arms around his back, hugging him tight. I didn't particularly care about his mother, but Bril was the only friend I ever had, and when he was upset, I was too. But there was nothing I could do but hold and let him know that I was still there.

Maybe that would be enough.

 

* * *

 

Lady Kallis finally allowed us to wash the next morning. Even if she only gave us a few minutes each, it at least let us clean up enough so we didn't appear to be street kids on immediate sight. That alone always helped us be more productive. We always managed to find targets out on the streets eventually, but it was still easier when we were clean. Dirt repelled wealth, after all.

Our first stop was one of the busiest areas on the top levels of Nar Shaddaa, a place where we were always guaranteed to find a good mark. In the middle of the courtyard was a giant statue of Zorbo the Hutt, easily one of the most influential Hutts in the cartel, and probably the most important individual on Nar Shaddaa. I hated the very sight of the statue, except for the fact that it was quite useful to us. Climbing up just the lowest part of the statue gave us a good vantage in which we could search the crowd for a good mark.

While Bril occasionally picked a solid mark for us, we both knew that I had the better eye for it. Most times, I could tell from a glance the sort of people who were carrying money on them, and of those who would be best to approach.

Unlike other days when we could be waiting hours for a suitable target, it wasn't long before I found a potential mark walking through the crowded courtyard. He fit all the criteria I was looking for - alone, likely unarmed and definitely with the air of wealth about him. His expensive clothes and tidy hair were proof enough of that. More than that though, he looked nervous, his eyes constantly shifting and scanning the people around him warily. Even better, he was carrying a thick, heavy case.

Before I could point him out to Bril, the young man looked directly at where we had perched on the bottom of the statue. His eyes locked on our location like glue, and for a moment I thought he had realized what we were up to. After a moment more, it became apparent - he wasn't looking at me at all. He was looking at Bril, and after years of living in a brothel, I could recognize the look in his eyes.

Lust.

It made him the perfect mark.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Hey, Bril, do you seem him?" I asked quietly, careful to do nothing more than a subtle gesture towards my target. After so long together we were more than experienced in making ourselves appear as innocent and guiltless as possible, and I trusted Bril to follow my line of sight without it seeming like he was doing anything conspicuous. From the look of distaste that flashed across his features, I knew he'd spotted the man in question.

"I'm not doing it," he said immediately. "You promised me we wouldn't do that anymore."

I can't say his reaction surprised me, nor that he'd guessed what my plan was before even hearing it. We'd been in similar situations before, but this mark seemed much more valuable than any others I'd seen. He didn't want to be noticed, that much was certain, and I had a gut feeling it was because he was carrying something in his case that would make him a target.

"I know I did, but-"

"No, Harry," Bril said with a tone of finality.

It was hard to blame him. Honestly, I hated the plan almost as much as he did. Anybody who looked at Bril through such a lens disgusted me to my very core, but I couldn't deny how useful it was to us. Their attraction to Bril always overcame their good senses, and it made it a whole lot easier to steal from them.

"But you're always the distraction anyway," I argued quietly.

Bril shook his head firmly. "We've talked about this before."

Bril's argument was that using kindness and innocence to distract a target was one thing, but using his looks to feign seduction was entirely another. He had a point, too. Feigning seduction made him vulnerable, and was far riskier than just acting as a distraction so I could rummage through a target's pocket. Not to mention how gross it must have made him feel.

Still, the plan was the only way I could see us getting our hands on that case. He had already started to walk away in the other direction after his long and obvious leering, so I had to convince Bril quickly.

"Please? It's the only way. I _know_ he's got something in that case. What if it's something that can help us get off Nar Shaddaa?"

Bril grunted, almost a low growl from deep in his throat. He shook his head slightly before turning a severe eye on me. "This is the last time."

I smiled slightly. "Yes, the last time," I answered quickly. Before long, the mark would have left the square, and getting lucky enough to find him again was a long shot. But Bril was in no big hurry. He was still staring at me with wide eyes.

"I want to hear you say it. Say, 'Bril'valla, I swear on our friendship that I won't make you do this anymore.'"

 _On our friendship?_ That was enough to make me hesitate. We had only each other, and Bril knew it. Giving up our friendship would be giving up the only thing we actually had, given that Bril rarely saw his mother. But just the fact that he was making me swear such a vow told me how serious he was.

"Bril'valla, I swear on our friendship that I won't make you do this anymore," I said in as honest a tone as I could muster.

It must have been good enough for him, because then he was vaulting off the statue and landing deftly on his toes below. "Stay behind us," he said before running off gracefully toward our target.

I leapt off the statue with half as much grace as Bril, but headed off in a just slightly altered path behind him. My job was to follow and wait for a good opportunity to steal the case, so I had to stay out of their line of sight. The best way to get caught would be to stay directly behind him. I had to stay close enough to see him though, and I found a good spot amongst the passing crowd where the mark was unlikely to see me. He would have had to turn and crouch down to see me watching, so unless I brought attention to myself, there was no real risk.

I was there just in time to see Bril approach. Though he hated it, he was an indisputable expert in attracting attention, especially the kind we needed. When he was trying to distract a random target on the street, he would just strike up a conversation or ask for help, but when he was trying to get the other kind of attention, he had a very different approach.

Genetics is a funny thing, and as the son of one of Nar Shaddaa's most talented courtesans, Bril was a natural. He stalked up to the mark with grace and charm in spades and sidled up to him. The man, shifty as he was, jumped slightly at Bril's presence before looking at who it was.

Almost immediately I saw his defenses lower. Any logical person would question why a random street boy would approach them, but _want_ makes people lose their senses, and this man very clearly wanted. It might have been risky, but it was the most effective method we had.

Watching their encounter was no easier. The man had no problem with touching Bril, even if just a seemingly innocent touch of the shoulder or a finger running down his arm. It must have made him want to jump out of his skin, but Bril handled it all without so much as a funny look. He even stood up on his toes to whisper in the man's ear, and soon they were walking away and out of the square.

I followed as soon as they moved, careful to stay out of their sight. It wasn't all that difficult, in the end. Though our mark had looked shifty and suspicious before, now he was calm and collected, his thoughts and focus rested entirely on Bril. He even boldly slid his hand down Bril's back as they walked. If I could kill with a look, he would have dropped dead there and then.

 

* * *

 

The plan was not going well. Normally Bril could convince our mark to duck into one of Nar Shaddaa's many alleyways or somewhere equally abandoned for us to make our move, but I'd been following them too long. Bril had attempted to persuade him quite a few times from what I could tell, but still the man continued forward.

_He_ _'s taking him somewhere specific._

That didn't bode well. In an abandoned alley or somewhere else on the streets, we would have the advantage. We knew the streets better than almost anyone, and with our smaller size it was never difficult to disappear into the crowd. That's when such measures were even needed. Once Bril had even convinced a mark to wear a blindfold and handcuff him to a pipe, but I was rapidly losing hope that we would have such an outcome a second time.

My heart sank when Bril walked with the man inside a building to the left, a large unassuming structure that looked like a giant metal box, but what I knew was a hotel with a cantina on the bottom floor. That meant that he was taking Bril to a private room, where not only would we lose our advantage, but where it would be difficult to get Bril out.

_What have I done?_

Before I even knew it, I'd broken out into a run towards the entrance to the cantina. Credits be damned, I had to get Bril out of there while there was still a chance.

"Beat it, street rat!" The bouncer at the door grunted and pushed me onto the floor when I tried to squeeze past him.

"But I know someone in there!" I said desperately as I got back to my feet and tried to push past him

"I said get lost!" he said, pushing me back again.

It was foolish to continue arguing, though thankfully I didn't have to. I could see past the bouncer and to the bar inside, where Bril was standing next to our mark. While he was speaking to the bartender, Bril had turned to face the entrance, knowing that I'd be right behind him.

"Run," I mouthed silently at him.

Bril shook his head, held up a hand in front of his chest and pointed up towards the roof. Then he stopped and held up four fingers. He was trying to send a message, that much I could gather, but why wouldn't he just run? He obviously knew something that I didn't.

_Fourth floor maybe?_

Then two fingers, a fist, and another two fingers.

_Twenty-two. Room twenty-two?_

There was no time to try and understand better, not with the mark turning back around and laying a hand on Bril's shoulder. Bril turned with him and out of view, but not before I got a glimpse of the most terrified look I'd ever seen on his face.

Nothing in my life had affected me so terribly. Bril never looked scared. _Never._ He could face down Lady Kallis, a woman who was so intimidating that she'd scored herself a high position in a Hutt cartel, and he wouldn't even bat an eyelid. Now though, he was truly scared, and I was scared for him.

Robbing didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was that I had to save my friend from a fate that I'd condemned him to.

 _But how?_ From the mean look on the Trandoshan bouncer's face, there was no chance he would let me through. But there had to be a back entrance somewhere. I turned around and headed to the side alley next to the cantina, hoping to find a way around the building until I could get inside.

It was a dead end. A high wall blocked me from getting all the way around.

_No!_

Above me, I could see the windows that probably led into the hotel rooms. I couldn't help but feel a hollow pit in my stomach as I looked at the ones on the top floor. Bril could have been in any of them, wondering if I was coming to save him.

There was no door into the building that I could reach quickly except for the one guarded by the bouncer, and I had approximately zero chance of getting inside past him.

_Think, Harry_ _…_

It was a risk, and it would take a little more time, but the apartment building next door to the hotel was just as tall, and probably close enough to jump between. It was the only choice I had. As fast as I could run, I made my way to the front of the building and straight through its unguarded front door.

There was no time to curse about the lack of an elevator. I went straight to the stairs and headed up as far as it could go, ending up on its empty roof a few long minutes later, out of breath and sore-muscled.

Looking down would have been a mistake, and time was of the essence. I leapt off one leg at the edge of the building after a run-up, swinging my arms and legs in midair as if they could help urge me forward to the hotel roof. But it wouldn't be enough. I was only halfway when it hit me, the knowledge that I simply would not make it. I could already feel gravity start to drag me down towards the ground.

But somehow, I made it. My body was flooded with energy, and for just the briefest moment, I would have sworn I was floating. But that would have been impossible, and adrenaline can do strange things. I realized belatedly that the hotel didn't have a door on the roof like the building I'd just come from.

_Harry, you absolute idiot._

I stepped over to the back side of the building to peer over the side, hoping there was a way down on that I couldn't reach beforehand. Being right at the edge of the district, from there I could see right off the edge, all the way down into the polluted smog of the surface of the planet. The whole world seemed to sway, but there were small balconies jutting out of the building, so small that it would be easy to miss and go hurtling off to my death.

It was worth the risk.

I laid down on my stomach right at the edge and slowly hung my legs over the side. I kept myself pressed firmly to the building wall before dropping smoothly onto the balcony below.

That was when I heard him. Just faintly, maybe two balconies away, I could definitely hear Bril. Not words, just muffled sounds of desperation and anger.

"Don't play hard to get now," I heard the mark say loudly. "You sounded so eager before."

As disgusted as I was at the words, I couldn't help but be relieved. It meant that nothing had happened yet, and I still had time. Probably not much by the sounds of things, but hopefully enough to get Bril out of there.

Of course, there was the problem of actually being able to do that.

That I could hear Bril and the mark meant that his balcony door was open, and I could get inside. Not that I had any idea what I would do when I did. It was easy to think I could just get in there and escape with Bril with relative ease, but logic dictated differently. But that would not stop me, either. It was rash, maybe, but doing nothing wasn't one of my choices.

I climbed onto the wiry fence surrounding the balcony, pressing myself to the wall for dear life. Just one misstep and I would go tumbling into the smog of Nar Shaddaa below, so thick and deep that the moon's floor could barely be seen underneath it. Nevertheless, I stretched out a leg, finally letting go of the wall and leaning into the next balcony.

One down, one to go.

"Get off me!" I heard Bril yell, louder now that I was closer.

"Aww, why so difficult? You were the one who approached me, remember?"

With mounting guilt, I climbed onto the fence of the second balcony, preparing for the final leap towards Bril. It was certain now that the next room was his. I might not have used Bril's hints to find him, but apparently there was at least some level of luck on my side.

My intention was to be as quiet as possible as I landed on the balcony of the mark's hotel room. At least that way I would have had the element of surprise on my side. But whatever luck had allowed me to get to Bril had run dry, and as soon as my feet landed on the metal guardrail it buckled underneath me with an almighty crunch.

Adrenaline had me jumping back to my feet immediately, but the damage was already done. Inside, the man was lying flat on top of Bril on the bed, though other than a ripped shirt, thankfully Bril was still clothed. Both he and the mark looked as stunned as I must have, but soon his expression changed, and I saw his gaze flick towards the cabinet against the wall.

When my eyes followed his, I could see why. On top of the cabinet was a small blaster pistol.

_No wonder Bril wouldn_ _'t run._

We both moved at the same time to lunge for it, but with me outside, there was no doubt he would get to it first. If not for Bril. He moved at the same time, leaning forward and shoving the man hard in the back, sending him tumbling to the floor beside the bed instead of making it to the blaster before me.

I made a final lunge towards the blaster. My sweaty hands held it pointed at the man's head. Despite lying on the dirty carpet, facing down the deadly end of the blaster, and having just been denied the object of his desire, he had a completely emotionless expression.

"You don't want to do that, boy," he said.

He was one hundred percent wrong. I could see Bril shaking out of my peripheral vision, and I knew exactly what would have happened if I hadn't made it in time. I wanted to do it. I'd wanted nothing more in my life. I held the blaster even higher, steadying my shaking hands and holding my finger squarely over the trigger.

"Just put it down and we can forget this ever happened," he said, his face still betraying no emotion at all.

I had no intention of putting it down. I'd never killed anyone, nor had I ever wanted to before, but with my finger on the trigger and Bril with his torn clothes next to me, I was just itching to pull it.

"Harry…" Bril whispered.

I fired.

With a thud the body hit the floor, as did the blaster when it dropped from my shaking hands.

"You killed him," Bril sounded as stunned as I felt.

I didn't tear my eyes away from the body on the floor. Even if I felt no remorse, my heart was frantic in my chest. I had never imagined that I would kill anyone, even after living on Nar Shaddaa where murderers were as common as liars and prostitutes. There was a clear line between stealing and murder, and it's a line I had thought I would never cross.

"I…-"

I had no idea what to say. I was terrified of how Bril would look at me. He'd always been so much softer than me, and seeing me kill someone in cold blood might just have been enough for him to see me in an entirely new light. We were thieves, not killers.

"You came after me," Bril whispered, as though he hadn't been sure I would.

I finally turned to face him. He wasn't looking at me with disgust like I feared. Instead, his expression was all gratitude, like he couldn't believe that I would go so far to get to him. But just beyond his gratitude I could see how scared he'd been. His blue eyes were shimmering wet, and he still hadn't stopped shaking. I'd put him in a situation where his worst fears might have been realized.

"Bril… I'm so sorry," I said, my voice cracking. "This will never happen again." If I didn't mean it the first time I made the promise, then I definitely meant it the second.

"I know, Harry, I know," Bril said, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

I only stayed for a moment. After what I'd done, I didn't deserve his forgiveness or his affection. Forcing him into a situation he feared above all else was the greatest betrayal I could have wrought. I gently pushed him away and moved to the foot of the bed, where the mark had placed the case. At the very least, maybe the case would make it all worth it.

It was far heavier than it looked, which meant it was definitely full of something. I laid it on the end of the bed and flicked open the latches on the top, unfolding it into two halves.

On the bottom half was a vision I had imagined through all my time on Nar Shaddaa, and never believed I would get to see. It was completely full of credits. More than enough to get myself, Bril and his mother off the smuggler's moon, with enough left over to start a new life somewhere new.

But the top half took all that hope away. Red and garish, the sigil of the Empire was emblazoned on the inside. There was also what looked to be a personal holocom, though I was hardly an expert on technology.

Bril sucked in a breath. "Harry… I think he might've worked for the Empire!"

The holocom in the case flared to life, and a blue ghostly figure about the length of my forearm appeared over the open case. He was human - balding and wearing some sort of grey uniform - and leveling a stare at me that put Lady Kallis's efforts to shame.

"Quite right you are, Bril'valla," he said. "Your friend Harry has just murdered an Agent of Imperial Intelligence."

_Oh, shit._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 

I really should have been more concerned with the fact that I'd murdered an Imperial Agent, but all I could think about was how this mystery stranger knew our names. Realistically, neither of us should have been in any Empire records, since we grew up on the streets of Nar Shaddaa. In fact, of all the people on Nar Shaddaa, I would probably only need one hand to count the people who might know my name.

"We didn't know he worked for the Empire!" Bril said desperately. "He was just trying to help me, weren't you, Harry?"

The holo-figure turned his attention squarely on me and crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for my reaction. As eager as I was to defend myself, I had always been more logical than Bril. The Empire scared me, as it would any citizen, but I still wasn't sure I'd earned their ire.

If I'd become a target for the Empire to put down, why would they bother making contact? A predator doesn't play with its prey, and the Empire was the greatest predator in the galaxy. At most, I may have only inconvenienced them, or maybe that was just what I hoped was the case.

"How do you know our names?" I asked. Next to me, Bril sucked in a breath. No doubt he expected me to throw myself on the floor and beg forgiveness, but I wasn't about to do that. If we were to have any chance of living through this, it wouldn't be by

"As the Keeper for Imperial Intelligence, information is my business," was all the balding man said. Evidently, he was in the business of gathering information, rather than sharing it.

A long beat of silence stretched between us. He stared at me. I stared back. He was evaluating me, of that much I was certain, though I had no idea what for. All I knew is that one wrong move would find both myself and Bril in an early grave.

"Bril's right," I conceded quietly, trying to keep the fear from showing in my voice. "I had no idea that he was an Agent of Imperial Intelligence. How could I? The Empire is supposed to stand for law and order, and your agent was going to do something terrible, something that I think is supposed to be illegal in the Empire."

Perhaps I was pushing my luck making accusations, but I was right. Maybe there are very few recognisable laws on Nar Shaddaa beyond 'Don't piss off a Hutt,' but I couldn't help but feel that an Agent of the Empire should at the very least hold up the values they're meant to represent. Plus, I was still furious over what nearly happened.

The man pinched the bridge of his nose, honestly looking distressed for a moment before collecting himself. "The man you killed was a trainee agent, and the Empire will not mourn his passing. He was a failure as an agent, and the fact that he died engaging in such an act is evidence of his failure."

If the man wasn't clearly testing me, I might have let out a sigh of relief. Since he was, I had to remain impassive. But even if I couldn't show it, I'd never felt such a sensation of relief in my whole life. Like I'd suspected, it meant that the Empire didn't want me dead for taking an asset from them - most likely, all they wanted was their credits.

"Nevertheless, his death leaves us in quite a predicament," Keeper said.

"You want your credits back," I guessed.

Keeper remained silent for a few moments, still looking into me as though he could tell everything he needed to know from just a glance.

"What I want is for the Empire's credits to be put to the right use," he corrected. "I didn't send a trainee agent to a Hutt's smuggler's moon with a case full of credits for no reason."

That made sense. As a moon in the middle of the Outer Rim, Nar Shaddaa was hardly the place to be sending Imperial Agents, especially with so many credits. He was obviously on a mission, a mission I'd interrupted.

As quickly as the relief came, it left. The Empire might not have been upset about the loss of its trainee Agent, but they most definitely would be about the failure of a mission, especially in a location where the Empire's presence is almost non-existent, where their problem would be more difficult to solve.

"So what happens now?" Bril asked, though it came out as more of a high-pitched squeak.

"Ideally, another agent would come to collect the credits and finish the mission, but that will not be possible in this case. The mission is time sensitive - by the time another agent reaches Nar Shaddaa, the opportunity will have passed. Fortunately, I believe there is somebody already on world capable of completing the task," Keeper said, his eyes still fixed firmly on me.

"Well, that's good then, isn't it?" Bril asked, looking confused. For a moment he seemed to think the problem would solve itself, but then he saw how Keeper remained focused on me.

"You're talking about me?" I asked with a slight choke. "What do I know about secret missions for the Empire?"

"You might be surprised. I was quite impressed with your actions to reach Bril'valla once events spiralled out of your control. I believe you have the necessary skills. Indeed, you may find that it'll be far easier than what you've already done today," Keeper said.

How long was he watching?

"What actions?" Bril asked slowly. "What did he do to get here that makes him so qualified?"

"As a trainee agent, the man you killed had his every action under surveillance, though he had no knowledge of the fact," Keeper added the latter quietly, the fact going unsaid that if he'd known, he may still be alive. "As such, I knew of you from the moment you made him a target."

At that, Keeper's figure disappeared from the holotransmitter, to be replaced by a glowing blue surveillance video. It was an image from the populated square with Zorbo's statue, where I first laid eyes on the trainee Imperial Agent. After a moment, the image shifted, and the video followed the agent guiding Bril along the streets, with me following inconspicuously behind. They'd even seen the secret message that Bril had tried to convey, not that I'd used it to reach him.

Bril gasped when the image showed me jumping between the buildings and shimmying off the edge of the building. Somehow, seeing it through surveillance videos was just as terrifying than when I'd actually done it. It looked so much like I wouldn't make it, but it was as if the polluted air itself had lent itself to my cause and carried me to safety.

When Keeper's figure returned, I could sense the frown on Bril's face without even turning to see it. No doubt he didn't like seeing the risk I'd taken to reach him. For me, the biggest risk was to take no risk, especially given that it was my fault he was in such a bad situation to begin with.

"Your dedication was admirable, but it was the quick-thinking and calm under pressure that caught my eye. Our agents undergo years of hard training to react to a bad situation the way that you did, and some never manage to overcome their weaker instincts."

Not that I didn't enjoy the compliments, but they felt rather unearned. Calm under pressure? I was terrified the entire time. Not for myself, but for what would happen if I was to fail. Even if Keeper thought I could accomplish his mission, whatever it would be, I was not so sure.

"What if I were to decide not to do what you ask?" I asked uncertainly. Even not looking at him, I felt Bril tense up by my side. It was hard to blame him. I was trying not to show my fear, but my heart was beating a mile a minute. The Empire didn't exactly have the reputation of being merciful, and having my own choice in the matter may not have been an option.

But Keeper didn't act like it. "You'd be free to carry on your lives as usual, after an Imperial representative comes to collect our credits, of course."

My eyes narrowed. "Just like that? You'd let us go after the death of one of your agents?"

At that, Bril grabbed me on the shoulder and froze me in place with his wide blue eyes, silently asking me if I had a death-wish. Perhaps he was right to think so, but I couldn't help but feel that it would be naïve of me to just take this stranger, an official from Imperial Intelligence, at his word. We'd inconvenienced the Empire, maybe not in a big way, but an inconvenience nonetheless. It would be foolish to believe we could escape without repercussions.

But again, Keeper disputed that. "And why not? You were quite right about the illegality of our trainee agent's actions. The Empire does not tolerate the breaking of its laws, even by those purported to represent said Empire. By showing us his great failings, you've in fact done us a favour."

Bril nodded, turning to smile at me in relief. Still, I was less than trusting. "So we could just walk away? Go back to our lives?"

The corner of Keeper's mouth upturned, almost like he was amused by our mistrust. "I think you've misunderstood my intentions. The offer to complete the mission is an opportunity, not a method of escaping a punishment that I have no intention of ordering."

An opportunity?

"The Empire can be quite grateful, I think you'll find. Grateful enough to organise safe passage off-world and a new, comfortable life on Dromund Kaas, our Capital city."

A way off Nar Shaddaa…

It was definitely enough to pique my interest. I still had misgivings about trusting the man, but now it at least felt like there was a worthwhile reward. More than worthwhile, in reality. In what could be a single afternoon's work, we might accomplish the very goal that we'd been after almost all our lives.

"And Bril's mother? Her as well?" I asked, noting the grateful look in Bril's eye out of my peripheral vision. Personally, I didn't particularly care were Keeper to say that she had to remain behind, except that Bril wouldn't leave without her, and I wouldn't leave without him.

"Assuming that you accept and successfully complete the mission."

I let out a long, deep sigh. "What would we have to do?"

 

* * *

 

The dark of night was only just lifting the next morning when I left the Hotel, and I had to stifle a yawn as I stepped out onto the wide street. I'd have preferred to have left even earlier, if not for the fact that Nar Shaddaa's many gangs still prowled the streets late into the night. If I wanted to survive, that meant waiting for sunrise.

For the first time since I arrived on Nar Shaddaa, Bril wasn't by my side. He'd be furious about it when he finally woke up, but it was worth it if it meant keeping him out of danger. I'd already put him through enough. He'd be safer sleeping back in the hotel room than out on the streets with me.

In truth, Bril would likely be angry that I'd decided to complete the mission in the first place, let alone that I left him behind. After explaining the task in full, Keeper had been surprisingly understanding and allowed the two of us to discuss the idea in private. After seeing how they'd managed to find footage of everything that I'd done to get to Bril, I highly doubted that any of our conversation would actually be 'private.' As a result, I'd had to urge Bril to be very careful about what he said, especially since he didn't think completing the mission for the Empire would be a good idea.

There was logic in his decision. Despite how much we both wanted to get off Nar Shaddaa, the Empire's reputation had to be considered. If even a quarter of the stories we'd heard about the Empire and its Sith Lords were true… well, they'd be enough to put anyone off. With Keeper more than likely listening in, he couldn't say as much in words, but he still made his opinion clear. After spending nearly every single moment together for so many years, we could probably have a full conversation with just a few words.

But honestly, I feared staying on Nar Shaddaa as much as I did the Empire. The fact was, Bril and I were only just managing to survive, and that was only due to our age and our innocent appearance. What would happen once we got a little older, and pick-pocketing became that much more difficult? I'd end up working for one of Zorbo's gangs, and probably wind up with a blaster bolt between the eyes. Bril, with his flawless good looks, would be put to work for Lady Kallis. That was unacceptable to me, and the fact remained that despite our best efforts, there was no guarantee we would ever save enough credits to get off-world.

Even if the offer was a ruse and they were just going to kill us, it was no greater risk than continuing with our normal lives. If all I had to do to prevent that fate was convince some random droid engineer to work for the Empire instead of the Republic, then so be it.

Of course, I still had to actually do that, and I highly doubted it would be as simple as it sounded. For one thing, he was already planning to leave that very day, heading to Coruscant to work for the Republic. For another, I was going to have to travel three districts away to find the guy.

That alone was no trivial matter. I'd never once left Zorbo's district before, and I didn't have the credits needed to do it easily. On any other planet, it probably wouldn't have been a significant issue. On Nar Shaddaa, however, the Hutts lined their pockets by ensuring that even basic services were expensive.

Fortunately, the port wasn't too far from the hotel, just a few minutes walk. At this time it likely wouldn't be too busy, most people either still asleep or preparing for their day. That was both good and bad. Good, because even if I got a ticket for transport, I wouldn't have to waste time standing in line, and bad, because without a crowd, it would be harder to actually get a ticket. I certainly couldn't afford one, and it would be that much more difficult to steal one without a crowd to mask my presence.

It would have been easier if Keeper had relented and let me use some of the credits from the case, but he'd been clear that it wasn't an option. Every single on of them was to be offered to the Droid Engineer.

"Creative problem-solving is expected of any Imperial Agent, young Harry," he'd said. "I'm sure you can find a way."

Now, without Bril, that didn't seem so simple. But I would, and could, do it without him being put into any more danger. I owed him that much.

I arrived at the port just as the transport was settling into the dock. The battered grey speeder looked older than the planet, and the phlegmy thrumming of its rear propulsors didn't exactly inspire confidence. It couldn't have been more than 40 feet long, a fraction of the size you'd see for a transport on a civilized world.

But the dodgy state of the speeder wasn't nearly as concerning as the announcement that came over the port speakers upon it's arrival. Five minutes. Five minutes is all I would have to find a ticket and get on. After that, it wouldn't return for several hours. By that time, the droid engineer might have already left.

The passengers getting off the transport were the only people I could possibly target for a ticket. There was nobody yet waiting to get on the speeder, nobody I could possibly pickpocket in time to make it. More than that, of those getting off the transport, none looked like the sort I would normally choose to rob. They seemed wealthy enough, certainly, but none were alone, and a couple of them were even likely armed. And I didn't even have Bril there to distract them.

I didn't have the luxury of choice. I had to choose one of them to rob, no matter the risk.

Of all of them, the young couple that lagged behind the others were the best targets. The man didn't have an air of intimidation and danger like so many of the gang members that roamed the planet, and the woman he was with looked more like a tourist than a street-wizened Nar Shaddaa courtesan.

I immediately set after them as they went to leave the port. Without Bril, I had no choice but to keep it simple. Careful to keep my footsteps inaudible, I darted my hand out towards the man's pocket. But I was panicked without my long-time partner there to help, and my hand grazed the man's thigh. Even if it didn't, the woman gasped, probably seeing my hand out of her peripheral vision.

The man grabbed my wrist in a steely grip and scowled down at me. "You little shit!" he spat. "You think you can steal from me?"

I tried to pull away, but the man had me in a death-grip and didn't have any intention of letting go. But I still had the case in my other hand, and instinctively swung it up and into the side of the man's head. With a solid thud the corner of the case met it's target, and the man dropped to the ground.

I didn't hang around. The woman had begun to scream out for help, and I could see a great hulking alien coming at me from further down the street. From the size of him, he was probably an enforcer for Zorbo, and what basically passed for law enforcement in the district.

I went running back towards the port, ducking around the side of the building rather than into the main waiting area for the transports. It was a dead-end. The alley next to the building was walled off, and the edge of the district was fenced off on my other side.

I poked my head back the way I'd come, cursing to myself when I saw the enforcer reach the screaming woman. If I walked out, he'd catch me immediately, but the tall wall prevented me from continuing down the alleyway. I took a deep, calming breath.

It was the sound of flowing water that proved to be my redemption. When I looked over the fence to find it's source, I found a pipe hanging out past the edge, just a small drop over the edge. It was rusted and old and the smell even from above was horrifying, but it was the only way out.

Keeping as tight a grip on the case of credits as I could, I climbed the fence and dropped down to the top of the pipe. I nearly slid off it's rounded top half, but after some swaying on balancing, managed to keep my feet. The entrance to the pipe was small, but luckily so was I, and I managed to swing inside and onto my stomach, dragging the case along beside me.

Even growing up on Nar Shaddaa couldn't prepare me for the stench of it. I didn't even have a spare hand to block my nose, carrying the case as I was. Somehow I managed to get through it, pulling myself through the tight gap until I was below a grate in the floor of a men's bathroom.

I heard the echoing voice of the port announcer through the grate announce only two minutes before the transport left.

Hesitation was my enemy right now. I lifted the heavy metal grate up and off to the side where it clattered on the floor. I climbed out of the tight gap, moving awkwardly as the blaster hidden in my waistband got caught on the edge of the pipe.

The blaster.

I'd forgotten about it completely, but it could be the key to my getting a pass-chip to the transport. I didn't need to rely on pickpocketing, with that.

Armed robbery would require a completely different set of skills than what I was used to. I'd trained for years to make myself as unnoticeable as possible, but that wouldn't help me now. I'd not only have to be visible by my target, but authoritative too, to make a target believe that I was calling the shots, and would back up my threats without hesitation.

Not exactly my forte, but at least now I knew what it felt like to shoot and kill someone. That would have to be training enough. I didn't want to have to do it again, but if I could be threatening enough, I wouldn't have to.

"What are you doing?" The voice from behind me had me almost jumping out of my skin. When I turned, a male Sullustan was standing in front of the urinal, his gaze moving from my face to the case in my hands and down to the grate on the floor.

"Did you just steal that?"

The opportunity was too good to pass up. I didn't have the time to look for another mark to rob at the end of a blaster, but the Sullustan didn't look poor himself, and the fact that he was at the port at all meant that he probably had either a pass-chip or the means to get one.

I reached for the blaster and held it out in front of me in both hands. It felt awkward, but I managed to contain my shakiness this time, determined to look as threatening as possible. "Don't move. Keep your hands where I can see them," I said.

I'd tried to put as much menace into it as possible, but my voice was still too youthful, and many octaves too high to be intimidating. The Sullustan laughed. "Kid, don't even bother trying. You even know how to use that thing?"

I scowled and lifted the blaster higher, aiming it towards his head. "I won't ask again," I said.

The Sullustan smiled a toothy grin and took a step closer.

I fired. It was all it took for the illusion of my control to slip.

I'd meant to fire it past him, to scare him into submission. I hadn't. The blaster bolt had struck him in the side of the throat, and the man dropped to the ground, sputtering and coughing up thick red blood. He began clawing at his throat, as if he could fix the damage with desperate hands.

I simply stood across the bathroom from him, stunned still.

"The transport will be leaving in one minute," the voice spoke over the speaker system. It was enough to have me moving.

I blinked back the brewing tears in my eyes and nearly tripped as I moved over towards him, trying to keep my mind on track. When I crouched down over him and reached for his pockets, he grabbed the collar of my shirt and stared at me with wide, terrified eyes.

I let out an undignified yelp and fired the blaster into his stomach again and again, until all that could be heard in the bathroom was the clicking of the trigger of the now out of ammunition blaster.

I vomited over his now very dead body, but managed to collect myself enough to rummage through his pockets and grab a pass-chip. It's hard to describe how it made me feel. My mind was racing, and yet totally blank. I felt guilty, and nothing at all.

I numbly left the bathroom and headed towards the transport, which was beginning to fire back to life. I got there just in time for the port officer to scan my pass-chip. I was covered in filth from the pipe, and now my hands had traces of blood and my own vomit, but the port officer motioned for me to go past.

I stepped onto the transport and dropped into the nearest seat, swallowing down another surge of vomit. The Sullustan was in my mind's eye. His dead body, lying on the floor with slowly spreading blood and covered in my vomit. The way the light had left his eyes. The desperation in his face as he'd grabbed me…

I grabbed at my face, trying to will myself back to reality. It was done. I couldn't afford to dwell on what had happened. I still had a job to do, and my reasons for doing it hadn't changed.

The transport picked up off the ground and away from the port, headed towards the Hutt District. What I'd done was awful, but not for no reason. If I could convince the droid engineer to go to the Empire, maybe it would be justified.

I had a good feeling it would work out. Bril and I could live happy, and I'd never have to run for my life or threaten someone else's ever again. Things were going to work out.

What a fool I was…

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 

Since I'd only ever been in Zorbo's district, I had it in my mind that all the districts of Nar Shaddaa would look exactly the same. That couldn't have been further from the truth. For all that Zorbo's district was dirty, crime-ridden and often enough terrifying, the Cartel district that housed the droid expert I was looking for was so much worse worse. Since it was physically lower, the air felt thicker with pollution, clogging the nostrils with the acrid stench of filth and urine. Had Bril and I had grown up _there_ instead of Zorbo's district, we never would have survived.

Despite the mid-morning sunshine, the Cartel district was also far darker than Zorbo's. As a result, the streets looked grungier and felt more dangerous, enough that the hairs on my arms were on constant alert. No matter that I could detect nobody following me, I looked backwards often, and gave side-alleys a wide berth. I would doubtless have been nervous anyway, but it didn't help that I was carrying a case full of the Empire's credits. It wasn't until I realized my fear would make me a target that I managed to clamp down on my emotions with a ruthless focus and cold logic.

The bigger problem was simply that I needed to find my way to the scientist, and though I had the name of the street he lived on, that I could barely read made that task even more difficult. Under other circumstances I might have asked for directions, but even those on Nar Shaddaa who weren't career criminals lacked the basic sense of morality prevalent on inner rim worlds, and even that would be a risk. It forced me to read what symbols and attempt to infer the rest. I'd never considered before that point just how important a skill it was, but I vowed to myself that if the mission was successful, I would learn to read.

In the end, I gave up on trying to find him through reading the street signs. I could only make out a few letters anyway, and I'd already wasted what was likely several hours trying to reach him. Using my intuition was the better method. Keeper had given me valuable information about the droid engineer, information that might be useful to reach him.

_So what do I know?_

I knew that he was on Nar Shaddaa working on combat droids that he could sell to the Hutt Cartel. That meant he would have to be close enough to the Cartel that they could offer him their protection if he needed it, and on Nar Shaddaa, he definitely would. So, probably he would be located in the main area of the Cartel district, where some of the most prominent members of the Hutt Cartel were. If I was right, that narrowed down my search window a little, but not enough.

Droids. If the man was a renowned droid engineer and working on combat droids for the cartel, then I should probably have been looking for the mechanical beings themselves. I knew of a droid mechanic on Zorbo's district whose business looked more like a scrapyard than a mechanics station, so I would have to keep an eye out for something like that, too.

I could use the holotransmitter to get back into contact with Keeper, too, but I didn't want to do that. Just like throughout the entire conversation with the enigmatic man, I was being tested now, too. Probably he was watching me every step of the way, watching with keen interest how I would complete his task. If I was going to do it, I should do it without the help he'd already offered.

So I had only vague information to go on, but it was better than nothing. I made off towards the main sector of the Cartel district, more like an open square with numerous Hutt statues than streets, and going over several open floors.

My luck was, surprisingly, holding out. I hadn't been in the area long before I spotted what looked to be a closed up storefront, its front window boarded up and its neon lights dull and unlit. It wouldn't have stood out at all, if not for the two formidable droids guarding its front door. Both were holding blaster rifles, and were covered in metal plating that looked tough enough to repel a blaster bolt, especially the smaller ones like from my stolen blaster.

But no matter how intimidating they were, twice my size and probably able to snap my neck like a twig, it would not deter me. I had too much riding on the success of my task to be driven away by fear, and I'd already come this far. Cautiously, I stepped closer to the droids. I might have been reluctant to ask another _person_ if I was in the right place, but droids were different. Artificial Intelligence or not, the rules of their creator still bound droids, and I found it unlikely that these droids would kill me for approaching or asking a question. If that were the case, they might have opened fire on any simple passerby.

"Stop, human!" one droid said in with a metallic voice when I was a little closer. "This unit is ordered to protect these premises."

I stopped, holding my hands out in front of me where the droids could see them. "I'm looking for the master droid builder, Koram Roth. Am I in the right place?"

The droid looked me up and down, the mechanisms in his metallic neck whirring with movement. "Master Koram Roth is not seeing visitors today. Leave now, or we will fire upon you."

_At least I found the right place._

I took a slow step backwards, but only one. I wasn't about to leave, despite the fact that the droid would probably act on the threat if he needed to. To my mind, there had to be some command that the droid would have to let me through the door. What if it were a Hutt, asking for entry to see the droids he had asked for? The droid would let him through, so if I made it seem like I was important enough…

"I have a case of credits here for him," I said quietly, only just loud enough for the droids to hear. The last thing I needed was for some random to walk by and hear me say it and get robbed so close to my target.

The droid lifted his rifle and aimed it at my face, unerring with how steady he could keep it. "Master Koram Roth is not seeing visitors today. Leave now, or we will fire upon you." I was terrified, but determined to stand my ground. It seemed unfathomable that I could get so far only to fail at the end. I was so sure that there had to be _something_ I could say for the droid to let me through.

Then it hit me that if the droid builder was about to leave for the Republic, and on that day, no less, then perhaps he really _wasn_ _'t_ allowing visitors. The Hutt Cartel wouldn't take kindly to his leaving, and perhaps he didn't want to risk them finding him packing up his belongings so he could get away without interruptions.

_Wait, if that_ _'s true…_

"I'm here as a representative for the Republic," I said, still only loud enough for the droid to hear. "I'm here to discuss terms of employment with Koram Roth." Almost immediately, the droid lowered the weapon and held it close to it's chest. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Master Koram Roth will see you now," he said, stepping out of the way of the front door to the dilapidated building.

The thick metal door behind the droid opened with a slight hiss, and I could hear hydraulics sliding along its back side. The building may have appeared dilapidated from the outside, but that was all a front. If the droid hadn't allowed me inside, there was no way I would break through that level of security.

Inside, the dilapidated visage fell completely, giving way to a long hallway of wires and pipes, some sparking with activity. There was a hum from inside of the walls, probably the voltage from all the energy needed to run such a place. There was only a thin path along the ground to walk through, with all other floor space taken up by scrap metal and droid parts.

The hall was decently long and seemed to lead slowly down underneath the main building above. It only made me more certain that the closed shop above was a front for the droid laboratory located underneath. Soon though, it led into a wide open space, a room filled with countless machines, half-built droids and what looked like an infinite number of thick electrical wires. None of it was organized in any sense of the word. Placement was haphazard, and there looked to be hundreds of half-completed droids located around the room.

In the corner were several completed ones, tall combat droids like the ones outside. Behind them was a man, human and middle-aged with graying hair and a slightly hunched back. He was shoveling equipment into a small suitcase, most likely packing for his trip to Coruscant. If I had my way, that suitcase would instead be headed to Dromund Kaas.

When I approached, I could hear the man muttering under his breath. "Representative from the Republic," he was repeating, still throwing things haphazardly into his case, seemingly at random. "Terms of employment?"

"Uhh, Hi," I said loudly, startling the man so much that he stumbled back from his case, knocking over a half-finished droid and sending scrap metal flying everywhere.

_What a ball of nerves_ _…_

If he was muttering about me being a representative from the Republic, and about the fake terms of his employment, then clearly he knew that I was there. So why then was he so terrified? Still, if he was emotional and frightened, it might just make him more easy to convince, so that was definitely and advantage for me.

He turned to face me. I couldn't help my shock at his appearance. He was almost more machine than man, with both eyes replaced by metallic prosthetics and his left forearm like a combat droids. Half his chest was covered with metal plates, and his body whirred as he moved.

"You-You're not a representative from the Republic," he stuttered, eyeing me with suspicion. "You're a street kid."

With a deep breath, I willed myself to be calm. He was surrounded by several of his combat droids, all armed to the teeth, and all of them easily capable of killing me in the blink of an eye. I had to be very careful about what I said. If he was loyal to the Republic already, then revealing that I was there to convince him to join the Empire might be wasted effort, and he'd probably just kill me.

"Actually, no. I'm here to talk to you on behalf of the Sith Empire."

The man jumped slightly, letting out a little frightened squeak. "The Sith Empire?" he repeated, seemingly to himself. "No no no no no. This wasn't how it was meant to happen." With no sort of voice command, his droids all lifted their weapons, aimed directly at me.

_Uh-oh_

"I'm here with an offer," I said, doing my best to act unperturbed by the weapons. "I know that you've agreed to work for the Republic. I'm here to request that you instead give your service to the Empire."

"No no," he said, now visibly shaking. "The Empire is bad, very bad."

"What makes you say that?" I asked. It was probably a stupid question, but I wanted to understand the man's motives. It didn't take a genius to recognize that he had a few issues, so the way I saw it, understanding him might make the task easier.

"Sith attacked the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Killed many Jedi," he said.

"And that was bad?" I asked curiously. "You like the Jedi?"

The man nodded. "Jedi preserve knowledge. Knowledge is very important."

"Is that why you wanted to work for the Republic? Because they preserve knowledge?"

Unexpectedly, the man shook his head firmly. "No. The Republic offered me many credits. Need credits to complete my work," he explained.

 _Money._ Probably the most common reason for anybody doing anything in the entire galaxy. No doubt Keeper knew this man's motivations when he sent an agent here with a case full of credits and a promise for more if he decided to work for the Empire. With a motivation like money, I could turn the situation to my advantage.

"I see. Well, what if I were to tell you that the Empire is willing to offer you _more_ credits, in order to continue your work?"

The man hesitated, thinking it over. "But the Empire is bad," he said, this time far more uncertain. Clearly, the offer of credits was well enough to tempt him into breaking his contract.

"Are they? Is it bad to offer you money to keep doing what you love?" I asked.

Koram Roth's eyebrows drew together in deep thought, his metallic eyes spinning in his eye sockets. "No, not bad. But Sith Empire has killed many people."

The lure of money didn't look to be enough to convince him. He was tempted, but the reputation of the Empire was still firmly in his mind. It was a common opinion - after all, it was the very reason Bril didn't think I should even be there. But that reputation might just be of use to me as well. If money wasn't enough, then perhaps money _and_ fear.

"And so have the Republic. People die in wars. You're an intelligent man though, do you think that the Empire is likely to lose to the Republic?" I asked.

After another brief moment's hesitation, he shook his head again. "No, the Empire is stronger. But bad, very bad," he repeated.

"But consider this… If you do go and work for the Republic, and then the Empire wins, what do you think will happen to you?"

"Nothing. I don't fight against the Empire," he said.

"No, if you side with the Republic, then you are the enemy of the Empire. I think you know what the Empire does to its enemies, don't you?" I said, trying to put just the hint of a threat in my voice.

Koram shivered from the thought of it. "Yes, have heard many stories. The Empire scares me."

I nodded firmly in agreement. "The Empire doesn't have to be scary. The Empire can be very generous, I think you'll find," I said, repeating the words Keeper had used on me the day before. "All you have to do is agree to work for the Empire, and you'll be funded enough and looked after enough to keep working on your droids forever."

At that, I clicked open the case of credits from the Empire and showed its contents to Koram Roth, whose eyes lit up with greed and desperation. I had him. We could be free.

 

* * *

 

Getting back to Zorbo's district was far easier than leaving it had been. That was probably because I'd already done the work in getting the transport token from the Sullustan, which worked just as well in getting back as it had getting out. That meant I could get back to the hotel with just as much ease. The difficulty of Nar Shaddaa was over.

The Trandoshan bouncer who had stopped me the day before let me through easily this time, though now I had the room key stolen from the trainee Imperial Agent. I was so excited to tell Bril about what had happened. Once Koram Roth agreed to work for the Empire, I contacted Keeper through the holo-transmitter. He praised my work, and promised to hold up his end of the deal.

But my good mood wasn't meant to last. When I opened the hotel room door, Bril was nowhere to be found. In a panic I checked the bathroom, but all that lay inside was the dead body of the Imperial Agent. The stink was awful. I didn't think for a moment that Bril would have left. I thought for certain that he would wait for me to return, even if only so he could chew me out for going at all.

_Surely he wouldn_ _'t go back to Lady Kallis empty-handed…_

As soon as the thought entered my head, I knew that it was what he'd probably done. Bril was intelligent, but whenever he started to panic, he needed support. I should have guessed that it might happen. I'd disappeared on him, and he'd panicked. If I wasn't there to help him, that only left…

_Oh shit._

I broke into a sprint out of the hotel, making a bee-line towards the House of Plom Bloom. Normally I was thrilled when the streets were crowded for the advantage of our pick-pocketing, but that day I was cursing loudly as I pushed my way through the people, desperate to get to my foolish friend in time.

I had tears in my eyes by the time I reached the Brothel. Things were meant to be perfect, but they were far from. Why did Bril have to be so stupid? If he'd just waited for me, we could have been planning to get his mother out of the Brothel and we'd be off Nar Shaddaa. Instead, I was entering the Brothel, deathly afraid that I'd find my worst fear.

That's exactly what I found.

The first person I saw in the back of the brothel was Bril's mother, and she had silent tears sliding down her face. Normally she always looked cold and emotionless, so her tears told me that something terrible had happened. Sure enough, when I could see more, I felt my heart nearly break in two.

Bril was on the floor, covered in his own blue hued blood. His normally stunning face was lumpy and broken, his breaths coming in ragged gasps and choking on his own blood. One of the large, familiar bouncers stood over him, his fists bruised and bloody. Lady Kallis was nearby, looking at my lifelong best friend with something akin to sick glee.

I never hated anybody more in my life than I did her in that moment.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" I screamed with all my being, sliding along the floor until I was kneeling next to him, my tears spilling onto his swollen face.

One of his eyes was swollen shut, and the other was vague and unfocused, but turned to look into my eyes. His mouth moved like he was trying to say something, but he just choked, more of his blood spilling over his lips.

I grabbed his hand tight, grateful to feel him squeeze mine in return. "I'm going to get you help. I'll make you good again," I sputtered, my vision becoming cloudy from tears. He gripped my hand tight for a moment, doing his best to look at me through his compromised eye.

"The boy needed to learn a lesson," Lady Kallis said calmly from Bril's other side. "Some lessons need to be learned the hard way."

If I wasn't holding Bril's hand and trying to comfort him, her words would have caused me to lunge for her throat. It would be a terrible idea. Her bouncers would have me dead in a matter of moments, perhaps not even enough time for me to have even reached her. Still, I didn't want to just sit there and let her stand there worry-free. She'd ruined everything, and she had to _pay._

Bril would die, and I didn't care if I had to die with him.

I ignored Lady Kallis, murmuring comforts to Bril. I felt dead inside already, a complete change from how I'd felt not an hour beforehand. Leaving Nar Shaddaa meant nothing now, not if I would have to leave without Bril. He was the main reason I wanted to get off, anyway. Bril had done _everything_ for me when I first arrived on Nar Shaddaa - was the only reason I stayed alive. I was too young to do anything for myself, too young to steal, too young to survive on the streets. But Bril had offered me half of everything he had, and he didn't have much.

I owed him everything, and I'd given him nothing.

Bril's breaths were getting shallower and shallower, and I was wracking my brain trying to think of something to do. Even if I _could_ have gotten him to a healer in time, which was a big if, there wasn't a healer on Nar Shaddaa who would've seen him without payment upfront, and I had nothing. There was nothing I could do but sit and watch him slowly die in front of me.

"I hope you have my payment today, boy," Lady Kallis said. "Come to that, two days' payments, since you never came back last night."

"I'll kill you," I whispered, but my voice came out completely emotionless.

"What did you just say to me, boy?"

I couldn't just sit there and watch Bril die. I would die with him. That was all I could offer him now. Maybe there was an afterlife, and I could join him there. If all I could do for him was erase his loneliness, then that's what I would do.

I snatched the empty blaster from behind my back and threw it at her, quick as I could. I should have taken an extra second or two. The blaster's heavy metal handle struck her, but barely, just enough to graze along her cheek. She screamed out in shocked pain and fell back.

Before I could fire again, I was tackled from the side by one of her bouncers, his large form forcing me onto the ground. He wrapped his large, muscular hands around my throat and began to squeeze, forcing the breath from my lungs.

"KILL THAT KID!" I heard Kallis screech.

I wanted to die along with Bril, but not as much as I wanted to kill Lady Kallis. But that was impossible. Rage filled me, and energy flooded my body. I wanted to kill her so badly. More than I wanted to kill the Imperial Agent. More than I ever wanted to get off Nar Shaddaa. I would have chopped off a limb to watch her die.

I tried to scream, but nothing came out.

But something else happened. My body was flooded with enormous energy, but not with muscle or anything I could use to throw the bouncer off me. Instead, the back wall of the brothel exploded inwards, flooding the room with debris and knocking everyone off their feet with the force of it. The bouncer was thrown off me, and I coughed and hacked the breath back into my lungs.

It was the only chance I had to finish the job. Whatever had happened wasn't going to save me, because instead of running, I would try to kill Lady Kallis.

Or I would have, if not for Bril.

He reached out and grabbed my ankle, squeezing it with as much force as his broken body would allow. I looked down at him, watching his mouth try to form words once more. Still, he was choking rather than speaking, his mouth filled with blood.

"Live," he got out.

I stared at him in shock.

"Live," he said a second time.

"Kill that boy!" Lady Kallis screamed again.

There was no time to decide. I wanted to die, but Bril wanted me to live. For him, I would. My heart broken completely, I left Bril lying there on the ground, slowly dying.

 

* * *

 

I fled, my mind in a blur. I was barely aware of my surroundings as my feet brought me back to the droid-shop. As we left Nar Shaddaa behind, I made myself a solemn vow.

I would have my revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> Wow, I have been on a writing roll this week. Two chapters of two different stories finished from beginning to end within one week is about unheard of for me, and I still have more in me yet!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed Chapter 4. The real story begins from now, now that Harry is off Nar Shaddaa. There will be a time skip after this chapter, just by a few years when Harry has some training under his belt. Hogwarts is still a little ways down the road, but only a few chapters, really.
> 
> I’m a bit uncertain about the characterization of Koram Roth. I was going for a kind of socially awkward savant, with perhaps a bit of a developmental disorder. He will come back into the story a bit down the track, so I want to get it right. (Not that he will ever be a huge character).
> 
> Thanks to all those who are following/favouriting and definitely those who have reviewed. I’m really into looking at the stats and seeing how many are reading the story, so it’s good to see how many are following and stuff.
> 
> Thanks guys and I’ll see you in Chapter 5


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 

_2 Years Later_

It was nearly time - the very night before what might be the most important day in my life. My last official day as a trainee Imperial Agent, the day that I might drop the trainee moniker for good. One test - a grueling test, perhaps - and it would be over. Two years of non-stop learning, combat training and cut-throat cunning come to an end. But I couldn't relax, especially not today.

Getting a good read on my classmates was essential for the final test, and I couldn't let my focus slip now. I'd been watching them for two years, so I ought to have known just about everything about them. The problem was, they'd been watching me, too, and if they were smart, they'd have been putting on an act for everyone else just like I had been. Showing your hand to people that you might have to kill in the graduating exam was stupidly dangerous, so all twenty of us should have been reluctant to reveal our strengths.

But unless I was mistaken, that wasn't the case. I'd watched day in and day out the rest of my classmates perform their very best in every test, in every combat practice, on every shooting range. I'd done differently. I'd deliberately underperformed every single time. When it came time to fight my soon-to-be former classmates, I didn't want them to have any idea what I was capable of.

It was a plan two years in the making, from the very first lesson when the instructors had told us to be careful of the friends we made. They never mentioned it again, but of all the lessons learned since coming to Dromund Kaas, I'd taken that the most seriously. Though really, I probably would have been cautious, anyway. After Nar Shaddaa, I didn't _want_ friends. Friends meant pain. So instead of trying to make allies amongst my classmates, I focused on ways to destroy them.

An Imperial Agent doesn't have a name, only a designation. As trainees, they expected the same of us. Instead, we went by the number of our rankings from examinations. They knew me as seventeen, of only twenty. It was a careful, methodical choice rather than a realistic view of my abilities. The class started with thirty-five trainees, of varying ages and species, which meant that over the course of two years, fifteen had died. Unsurprisingly, each of those 15 had, at some point, fallen to last place - the weakest link.

Thus, I couldn't be so bad that I would be a target for the higher rankings, nor high enough to invite undue scrutiny. I wanted to fall in the middle of the pack, unremarkable in every way.

Number one was the leader of _that_ group, unsurprisingly. Even if he'd bombed his exams, I, and everyone else, would know who the biggest threat amongst us was. One was Chiss, only a couple of years older than me, at sixteen, but ultimately the best that our class had to offer. He ticked all the boxes of a brilliant agent - skilled, attractive, unassuming… lethal. He was the competition, and always was, right from the first day of training. In two years of watching and waiting for a weakness to show up, I'd found only one, and it would not be easy to turn it against him.

There's a reason that pride is considered a sin, and if I had my way, it would cause One's downfall. The problem was, his pride was wall-earned. His marksmanship was beyond stellar, his mind terrifyingly keen, his instincts near-flawless. How does one use pride as a weapon against someone who is genuinely all that he's cracked up to be?

He was the very reason for my plan to perform badly in exams to begin with. If he was rank one, and I seventeen, why would he consider me a solid threat? I hoped that he wouldn't, and that his confidence would be his undoing.

Still, I had my doubts, and doubt can kill an Agent as easily as a weapon. The instructors had drilled into all of us not to act hastily. Every decision should be cold and calculated, which meant that any plan to confront Number One without a clear tactical advantage was a non-starter.

For that, I needed to put in the appropriate legwork. It was the only reason I was out so late, before the most important examination of my entire life, no less, skulking through the forests of Dromund Kaas towards the Imperial Academy main building. On any other day, I wouldn't have to sneak. I'd spent two years being educated there every single day, but now I wanted to remain unnoticed. First, because I was out after-hours and the building was locked up tight with patrolling security. Second, because I was there to find an advantage and ensure victory on the final exam. Even if - or perhaps especially if - such advantage was against the rules.

It wasn't my first time cheating, anyway. The fact was, the instructors at the Academy made us very aware that success was the only thing that mattered. As an Agent, the Empire would expect me to use any possible tactic to complete a mission. In pursuit of mission success, there was no such thing as "cheating." For example, my mission to remain a few places up from the bottom was facilitated by frequent break-ins to the examiner's office.

It was raining as I approached the offices. The first time I saw rain, I didn't know what to make of it. Nar Shaddaa never saw a drop, which was probably a good thing, since all the pollution would have made it acidic and poisonous. On Dromund Kaas, it rained all the time, and I grew to enjoy it. I loved the smell of oncoming rain in the mornings, and the way it kept everything on Dromund Kaas looking green and luscious.

I mostly loved rain because it masked my presence. Especially at night, the heavy rainfall was making me near impossible to see for all but those wearing thermal goggles, and I highly doubted that any of the patrolling guards had _those._ The surveillance cameras could see thermals, I knew, but I wasn't prone to making risky decisions, and I knew where every camera was and how to stay out of its view.

The best places were the corners of the building, where cameras were located high on the third floor, looking out and turning over a wide angle. That meant they couldn't see straight down, and I'd have a good ten second window between leaving the safety of the forest brush and reaching the point below the camera. That was _plenty._

_Now._

When the camera turned away, I sprinted forwards out of the thick forest, shifting my body weight to keep my movements as silent as possible. The guard patrolling this area wouldn't be back for another two minutes anyway, but getting caught risked being punished, and in the Agent academy, punishment was invariably fatal.

I made it underneath the camera's view with as much ease as ever, but the next part was always more troublesome, especially in the rain. The offices of the Imperial Academy were located in what might as well be just a big silver box with windows, with very few handholds or crevices to climb inside.

The main doors were all well protected by both guards and cameras, and though it might have been possible to knock the guards out and slice my way inside, it was a far more risky move than sneaking inside unnoticed, especially on the night before the final exam. So difficult though it was, I began to climb, slipping a toe here and a fingertip there to scale the outside wall to the closest window. The window was closed, but not so fully that I couldn't jam the blade of my vibroknife underneath and pull it upwards, enough that I could slip inside with no trouble.

I pulled my black hood down over my face as soon as I was inside. There was no way to avoid the cameras inside, I knew that much from experience, but so long as I kept my face covered there wasn't likely to be an issue. I always scrubbed the camera footage when I reached my goal anyway, but it was always better to play on the safe side.

I had to go through the watcher's training room to reach my target, a massive, open area filled with desks and computer terminals. All the watchers for Imperial Intelligence trained there, learning how to navigate and break into nearly every system in the galaxy, to assist the agents out in the field. Looking back, a watcher would have been behind all the footage of me from Nar Shaddaa, and handed it over to Keeper to make contact.

I kept my head down as I moved quietly through the dark, empty room towards the offices on the other side. The amount of times I'd been there after hours, now it was as familiar to me as breathing. Every step felt confident, every move planned and certain, just like the Academy had taught. It helped thatI was still small despite my age. I could slip into tighter spaces, and even in the larger spaces I was less likely to bump into the furniture, and less likely to set off any alarms.

The door to the office was protected by key-code, but thanks to the Empire's training it was nothing I couldn't handle. I pried the cover from the keypad with my vibroknife and began to slice my way inside. After a few moments, the electronic door slid open with a hiss, opening into a long dark hall beyond. If I hadn't done it so many times before, it might have taken longer, but I'd used the system to create a back-door entrance into the system for easy access. I didn't want to create my own password, just in case a watcher came across the forbidden access during a routine security sweep, but creating a source code to make the door open with a small energy surge wasn't too risky.

There was an office off the dark hallway for each of the Academy instructors, one for marksmanship, poisons, unarmed combat and so on. Fifteen offices, including one each for the overseer and his second in command. It was the Overseer's office that I wanted. It was the riskiest place to get caught, but as his office had access to every system, the only place that would let me perfectly clean up after myself. Instead of needing to slice into multiple computer terminals, I only needed to get into his.

I made my way inside the office the same as I had the hall beyond the watchers room, by prying off the keypad and giving it a small surge with my vibroknife. The office inside was large, but mostly empty except for a chair in front of a computer terminal, with a long window overlooking the entire Academy compound below. From his office he could see us throughout most of the day, whether we were at the shooting range, in the classroom or at the obstacle course.

The terminal was the only thing of interest to me. The Overseer was utterly meticulous, as most Chiss were, and there was no doubt he would have documented what I was looking for. Everything I ever needed, whether written exams or plans for a combat test, he organized appropriately in his systems. He encrypted all his data, but I'd long since learned to get around such things, thanks to his very own Academy's teachings.

I searched through his system with well-practiced ease. Unlike before, I wasn't exactly sure what I was looking for. I needed something that would give me an edge over the other trainees, _especially_ Number One. It could be anything. The location of the final exam, or perhaps knowledge of any equipment we'd be allowed to bring with us. Even the slightest advantage might be the difference between life and death.

What I found would not be just a _slight_ advantage.

A three-dimensional map of the final exam arena rose out of the terminal at the push of a button, flooding the room with an ethereal blue glow. Even the least detailed map of the area would have proven useful, but organized as ever, the Overseers map showed every rising mountain, every ridge in the jungle, every place to hide. With the map, I could plan tactics for changing circumstances at any point in the exam, and have contingencies on contingencies.

It was far from a certain path to victory, but it was more than I hoped for. Along with Overseer's notes for the final exam to the map, and it was just what I needed to set myself up properly against Number One. According to the notes, all trainees would have access to only a single piece of equipment, from a selection of twenty. The problem was, the equipment was to be chosen in order of ranking, which meant I would be among the last. Some pieces would be next to useless amongst the jungle, and since only ten pieces of the equipment on offer were weapons, I would more than likely have to go in with only my wits and training as a defense.

It was a damned good thing I'd broken in to find out about the exam. With my low ranking, I'd not only not have had any advantage to fight the higher-ranked trainees on an even footing, but I'd have been at a distinct _disadvantage._ Frankly, the odds would have been so stacked against me that death would have been inevitable. At least now, I had a fighting chance.

The Overseer's office was sound protected, and I was so busy studying the map I wasn't paying attention to the security cameras like I should have been. The door was sliding open before I could even make a mad dash to hide against the wall. Then again, with Overseer's minimalistic decor, there was nothing to hide behind even if I'd had the time.

"Of all of them, I think you were about the last one I expected," a voice sounded from the door. It was female, which meant fortunately that it wasn't the Overseer. If it had been… well, it wouldn't have been good. Even if I was right, and the Academy expected us to cheat, getting caught at it would be considered sloppy enough to warrant my execution.

Still, getting caught at all, even if it was only by another trainee, wasn't a good thing. Number Six stared at me from the doorway with her icy blue eyes, her lithe human form a shadowy silhouette against the dimly lit hallway behind her. Like me, she was mostly hidden underneath her hood, but not so much that I couldn't see the way she was looking at me - how a hunter looks at their prey. Even if the final exam hadn't truly begun, it had. We were enemies, not classmates.

But I would not be prey.

I let her slowly approach, careful not to take my eyes off her even for a second. Looking into the eyes is the key to reading an opponent; the Academy had taught me.

"I shouldn't be surprised," she said, her voice silky smooth, almost amused. "Even if you're only rank seventeen, you still lived through two years of training."

It sounded like she was underestimating me, just as I wanted her to, but I wasn't stupid enough to fall for it just like that. There was every chance that she knew my ranking was inaccurate, given that we'd both found our way to the Overseer's office. Then again, that she wasn't leaving meant that she must have felt confident enough in her own skills that she could take care of me herself.

If she had any brains, she'd have been feeling _insecure_ about her abilities. If I were in her shoes, I'd be looking to make a tactical retreat until I could find out what my opponent were truly capable of. But still she approached, though cautiously, her eyes never looking away from my own. Her vibroknife was in her hand, long and curved and silver, about the same length as my forearm.

"That's a very interesting map though, isn't it?" she said, finally taking her eyes off me and looking at the map illuminating the room. She could still see me out her peripheral vision, I knew, and any attack from me would have been immediately spotted. "Very enlightening."

I didn't want to respond yet. We'd all been trained how to manipulate, and in how to read micro-expressions to look underneath what someone said. Trying to talk my way out of the situation would never work, not against someone with the same training that I had. She was probably thinking the same, but even if she were to try, I could never trust her, or any of my classmates.

"As the only two to see it… I think we should work together to take out the competition," Number Six said, turning to look back at me with analyzing eyes.

_Too heavy-handed._

She looked calm, but I wasn't so sure that she was. She hadn't expected to find anyone here at all, and that she found someone so far underneath her rank had her spooked, even if she wasn't showing it. Because of that, her offer of alliance might have been genuine, or she might have intended to slit my throat the second I turned my back. At most, a few of us might make it, and though I was expecting alliances so that people could survive until they only had to face their former friends, I would rely only on myself. Most classes only ended with a single survivor, and if I was to die, it would be because _I_ failed, not because of the failure of someone I was counting on.

"An alliance?" I asked, careful to keep my voice steady and my face impassive. "You'd want to ally with someone ranked so far beneath you?"

I just needed to get a little closer without her feeling threatened. If I could just talk long enough…

"Why not?" She said. "The fact that you're here means that you've been severely underestimated. Nobody will expect you to put up a decent fight. That makes you dangerous. So dangerous that this might be one of those years where _two_ people pass."

It also meant I was right, and she wouldn't be letting her guard down around me. Smart, but frustrating. I didn't want to get into a fight, any fight, where I wouldn't be at a distinct advantage. As wary as she was, it meant my edge was gone. She didn't have a good grasp on my skills, that was true, but a cautious opponent is harder to defeat than a confident or emotional one.

"You have a plan?" I asked.

She almost smiled, but in reality it looked more like her lips had pulled back from her teeth, giving her a cruel, dark sort of look. Hidden by the shadows in the room as she was, it made her all the more menacing. No doubt it was intentional, an attempt to make herself more terrifying, but I could see through the bluster. She was still nervous.

"A good one, actually. I'm in with the higher ranks, as you're probably aware. Before we fight each other, us top ranks want to root you all out. They think you're easy pickings… but you'renot, are you?"

I would not dignify that question with a response.

After a few moments of tense silence, she continued. "I'm proposing that when they come for _you_ , we turn on them together."

I would have to kill her. She'd seen too much, and there was no way I was going to make an alliance with _anyone_.

"And how exactly would we do that?" I asked, biding time.

Number Six turned her gaze once more towards the map. "Because we have _this._ There must be a good spot to set up an ambush. Does the Overseer have more details about tomorrow in his system?"

I couldn't let her see the Overseer's additional notes. If I did not kill her here, then I had to make damn sure that she wouldn't have the same advantage that I did. There was no guarantee she would keep it to herself, and any plans that I might make using the map would be null and void.

"I haven't looked yet," I bluffed. "Let me check."

Her eyes narrowed, but she didn't move from where she stood on the other side of the terminal, watching my fingers moved along the holographic display. I wanted her to come closer. Her vibroknife was clear to see, twirling in her fingers, but with mine tucked up behind my back, she couldn't have been sure that I was armed. If I was quick enough, I could cut her throat before she knew what was happening. I just had to get goad her into coming closer.

I had just the plan.

I did the same thing that I always did when in the Overseer's office. I sent all the data to my datapad back in my dorm and erased it from the system so nobody else could see it. In front of my eyes the map disappeared, and the room returned to dark shadows. For a long moment, the room went silent, and only the patter of rain across the offices' long window could be heard.

"Oh no," I said, probably a little smug. "My finger slipped."

Losing her advantage was enough to make her control slip, if only for a few seconds. She snarled, and brandished the vibroknife threateningly in front of her.

"What the hell have you done?" she hissed. "You've taken away my victory!" She closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye, her weapon arcing up towards my unprotected ribs.

But where she was angry and irrational, I was all too calm. I grabbed her wrist with an iron grip with left hand, stopping her attack before it could hit. With my right, I reached for my own vibroknife, and brought the point of it straight up to the soft area under her chin. The vibrating metal pierced her flesh with a sickly squelch, and I felt her warm, thick blood pour out over my hand.

That was all it took to kill her. Alive one minute, gone the next.

I felt nothing. No pang of guilt, no disgust in my actions or in the way the light left her blue eyes. If I felt anything at all, it was a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

_One down. Eighteen to go._

 

* * *

 

"Has anyone seen Number Six?" I heard a voice ask nearby. I almost smirked, but kept my face emotionless. By now, her body had probably been discovered and fed to the beasts in the jungles of Dromund Kaas.

"She wasn't in her dorm this morning," another answered. "Probably too scared to go through with the final exam. Maybe she was caught trying to run away?"

"Probably. She always struck me as a coward," I heard the familiar, arrogant voice of Number Two say. "Maybe some of you lower ranks should have gone with her."

At that, I finally looked up, watching the girl gaze around at the other trainees. Number Two had always been outrageously conceited. She'd placed second in every exam, right behind Number One. But unlike him, she was pointlessly cruel, always trying to bully the lower ranks into submission to make herself seem more powerful. I couldn't prove it, but I was certain that she was behind the mysterious deaths of our classmates. Well, all except Number Six.

It never worked, at least not on me. Sure, I played the part and acted offended and afraid, but she was all bluster. Underneath she was just a frightened little girl, and today was her last day alive.

We'd all been sent to the same familiar clearing in the jungle outside our dorm building, the only nearby place that a transport big enough for all of us could land. The atmosphere was palpable, and conversation was minimal. We all knew what the day would bring. We were all alive now, but soon all but one of us would be dead.

I stood with the rest of the lower rankings when we were all grouped together. Not out of any sense of loyalty to them, but more just to fit in with the illusion that I was in the same boat they were. If it meant I would be the only survivor to become an Agent, then I was happy to take the disdain from the higher ranks, looking down their noses at us.

It would come back and bite them.

Before long, the transport was descending into the jungle opening, its back door coming down to the ground so we could climb on. Like the map suggested, the transport ship was only meant for short distances, which meant that it would stay on Dromund Kaas. It didn't surprise me, but I heard the other trainees murmur amongst themselves. Probably they thought the final exam would take place off-world.

I was among the last to enter the transport and ended up sitting in one of the seats towards the back as it lifted back off the ground. Only two instructors were on board, both of them combat instructors, but the Overseer was there too, casting his intense red gaze over us all. That was a shock in itself. We'd seen him from time to time, but never to be addressed by him directly.

He was picture perfect for an official from the Empire. Gray pressed uniform, with his rank insignia plaque plastered over his left breast. His hair was short and tidy, and he stood with a straight back with his hands rested together behind his buttocks. Even for a Chiss he stood out as an obvious officer of the Empire.

"You all know why you are here," he began in his commanding tones. "We have trained you to be the Secret Arm of the Empire, and anyone who has made it to this point in their training has proven they have the potential to be a successful Agent."

The Overseer stopped to pass his gaze meaningfully over us. "But we're not just looking for those who _might_ make a good agent. The Empire will only accept the most elite, those who will undertake any mission and carry it out with success as the only possible result. This final exam is meant to test you. By the end of the day, only one of you will be left standing."

"Your instructors believe you all have the skills necessary to take a life… but can you do it without hesitation? Can you prove yourself the most elite amongst classmates with the same skill sets? Will you kill because your Empire demands it of you? Today, we shall find out what you all are made of."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes
> 
> I hope this chapter wasn’t too jarring because of the time skip. I didn’t want to have chapters on chapters of Harry learning to be an Agent. They wouldn’t have progressed the plot any, I don’t think, so I decided to just skip to the very end of his training.
> 
> I was torn over what to make the final exam. On the one hand, the Sith Empire doesn’t like waste, so putting them in a Hunger Games scenario kind of feels like wasted lives. On the other hand, Sith Acolytes on Korriban only ever had one living Sith per class, so only the strongest survived. I figured that was the way to go, since Imperial Agents are the best the Empire has to offer outside of being an actual Sith, so they would only want the most skilled to actually work as an Agent for them.
> 
> Also, I’m considering adding a prologue explaining how Harry ended up on Nar Shaddaa from Dumbledore’s perspective. People have been commenting that this fic doesn’t really feel like a fanfiction in a lot of ways, so I think that would go a long way towards fixing that problem. Let me know what you guys think.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Next chapter is obviously Harry’s graduation test from the Imperial Academy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so terrible at updating my fics on ao3 :|  
> This chapter has been on FFN for a solid month and a half, as well as all the other sweeping changes to earlier chapters that I’ve only just made on here now. 
> 
> Also, I’ve created a discord for anyone who might be reading my fics. My audience is much bigger on FFN than here, and a fair few people have actually joined and its become fairly active. Theres space for fic recs, promoting your own fics and I update every day on where I am with my own writing, as well as showing snippets and asking for advice. Just a cool place with a bunch of equally cool people :)
> 
> Link - 
> 
> https://discord.gg/mT3BTUe

**Chapter 6**

 

The transport dropped us one at a time over different areas of the valley. Like most of Dromund Kaas, it was all lush jungle, so thick that it was impossible to see through the trees from the ship hovering over the canopy. I had no way of knowing what lie beneath the twisting green thicket, but there I was ordered off the ship, and staying wasn't a choice.

I connected the winch to my standard-issue belt and and jumped out the door without hesitation, the metal wire keeping gravity from pulling me down at death-inducing speed. I fell through the massive, wet green leaves, scanning the ground below me for any sign of threat. I couldn't be too cautious, even at the beginning of the exam when it was unlikely anyone had made it too far from their starting position.

The make-shift jungle arena encompassed a huge area, probably ten square miles in total, and entirely surrounded by a tall electric fence with enough wattage to kill a Rancor. We were all trapped there together, and the only way out was victory.

I _would_ get out.

I hit the ground running, smoothly disconnecting myself from the winch and heading north, exactly as I had planned. My feet splashed through the mud, but I couldn't afford to let myself worry about the tracks I was leaving. It was raining heavy, so my tracks would theoretically disappear before long.

The best chance I had was to get my hands on a weapon. I knew from my studies of the Overseer's notes that ten of the twenty of us had blasters - some pistols, some rifles - and right now _they_ had the best chance of victory. I wouldn't say I was d _efenseless_ without one, but I would have to get close in order to fight on an even footing, while someone with a rifle could kill me from half a mile away. That was unacceptable. I had to get a weapon, and I knew the likeliest place to find one.

One of the ten weapons was a Sniper, and the best place to use that would be from high ground. From the map, I knew where the only feasible location was. The north side of the arena had the highest ridge in the area, likely looking over almost the entire arena. Since the rifle was equipped with a high-vision thermal scope, it was the best position to be, and whoever had the Sniper would come to the same conclusion.

It's exactly why I wouldn't stay there once I had what I wanted. Whoever had the Sniper would be a fool to not go to the highest point, where they could map the entire area and perhaps the general locations of the others. Since I'd already seen the map, all I wanted was the weapon, and more importantly, the scope.

Bounding through the jungle at breakneck speed was the part of my plan that could derail the easiest. Map of the arena or no, I couldn't control everything, and the beginning of the exam was always when I was going to be at my most vulnerable. All it would take is for someone with a blaster to spot me from a distance, and that would be the end. At least the storm overhead was giving me some cover. It would be harder to see me through the heavy rain, and the constant patter and thunder would help mask my sound.

It was only minutes before I reached the steep incline of the ridge. From there I would have to be more cautious though, which meant moving slower. I had no doubt that others, especially whoever had the Sniper, would be trying to reach the same position, and I couldn't afford for them to spot me. All I could count on was that my knowledge of the area would give me the advantage.

Another problem was the thermal scope. No potential agent who had reached this point in their education would be stupid enough to approach a location without checking for enemies first, and whoever had that sniper had the best method of actually doing that. I didn't have access to multispectral camouflage to mask my presence from it, which meant I would have to improvise.

On the way up towards the tip of the ridge, I jumped into the small flowing stream of water that I'd found on the map the night before. The water was damn near freezing, exactly as I hoped it would be. It was terribly uncomfortable of course, but compared to a definite death without it? It was an easy compromise to make.

The cold water itself wouldn't be enough to hide me though. The heat from my skin would still show through, and eventually it would also reheat my wet clothes to the temperature of my flesh. But I had a plan for that.

I slowly moved towards the top of the ridge, using the trees to cover my approach. The advantage of the map and my subsequent immediate movement meant that I was, thankfully, the first to reach it. Others would try and reach the same position, but for now I had the edge.

At least, I _would_ have the edge once I had proper protection from the thermal scope. Again, thanks to the weather, I had the means. It was a rare day on Dromund Kaas where it _wasn_ _'t_ storming, so it wasn't like I had taken it on chance. Constant rain had made the jungle floor thick with mud and slush, and the ambient temperature meant that it was _cold._

Cold was exactly what I needed. Since my wet clothes had already cooled me down, burying myself in the mud would bring my temperature down low enough that I shouldn't show on the thermals, though it wouldn't last forever. My natural body heat would begin to show through eventually, but between my wet clothes and the freezing cold mud, it should be long enough to keep me hidden.

The mud was cold enough that I could feel it even underneath my skin, as though it was piercing through it like a knife and grabbing at my bones with frosty fingers. But covering my body was the best way to stay alive, so there was no room for second guessing. Our training had included survival training in the harshest conditions, so it was nothing I hadn't dealt with before.

It turned out to be Number Seven who had the Sniper, curse my bad luck. It had held out so far, since I wasn't spotted on my way to the ridge, but apparently that was as far it would stretch. Of all those in the arena, Number Seven was probably the last I would want to face unarmed. True, Number One was the most dangerous among us, but that was a ranking made up of the results of _all_ our exams. Even he had never managed to beat her in hand to hand combat.

It was all due to her upbringing. Number Seven was Dathomirian, and according to notes I'd stolen from the Overseer's office nearly a year earlier, she'd been raised to be one of their lethal nightsisters almost from birth. If she'd been force sensitive, her training on Dathomir would have continued. But she wasn't, and circumstances had somehow led her to Imperial Intelligence.

That upbringing meant she had far more combat experience than any of the rest of us, especially in hand-to-hand fighting. She moved like a ghost, always evading attacks and striking where her opponent least suspected it. At least she didn't have a sword or vibroknife as well as the rifle. If she did, I'd last only seconds. As it was, the only chance I had was the element of surprise, and it appeared that I _did_ at least have that.

She reached the top of the rise slowly, looking through her scope the entire time. Her gaze passed straight over me, never hesitating for even a moment, and I was looking for it. Just the slightest hesitation would have meant the possibility that she'd seen me, even if she then was going to pretend that she hadn't. But no amount of training could result in that complete lack of reaction. The mud had done it's job.

Even so, that it was Seven was enough to give me pause. It wasn't that I was afraid of her - I wasn't _afraid_ of any of them - more that I logically knew that if I failed in a surprise attack, she'd kill me. I knew what I was capable of, and I couldn't beat her in this kind of fight. The piece of equipment I'd chosen wouldn't help me, either. It was only me, weaponless, against someone who was probably as lethal without a weapon as she was _with_ one.

The risk was just too great. I'd have to resort to one of my contingencies.

Or I would have, if not for the very timely arrival of Number Twelve. The slender girl was the smallest and youngest among us, only a few months behind me in age. Her stature made it that much easier for her to remain silent, though her near-perfect movements certainly didn't hurt. Clearly she'd stalked Seven through the jungle, probably using her incredibly lithe frame to stay hidden behind cover.

By then, Number Seven was laid on the ground, the Sniper propped up in front of her while she looked through the scope for her enemies. Twelve approached slowly, reaching behind her back and revealing the equipment she'd chosen for the exam. A vibroknife - exactly the kind of weapon she'd need to take down Number Seven, at least with surprise on her side.

If she could manage to take down Number Seven, I'd be in a much better position. I could take Number Twelve in a fight, of that I was totally certain. She was smaller than me, and even with me faking my real abilities, I always felt like I was faster and stronger than her in training. Add that to the fact that she had no idea I was there, and I could get a vibroknife, and the thermal scoped sniper all at the same time.

But things are never that easy, and just as Twelve moved to bring the vibroknife down, Seven rolled to the side in time to mostly avoid it, the blade only managing a thick gash into her shoulder. She let out a grunt of pain, but in a flash she was on her feet and whirling around Twelve, wrapping her uninjured arm around her neck. The fight was over that quickly. Though blood was now streaming from her other shoulder and down into her hand, she snatched the vibroknife out of Twelve's grip and slid it smoothly into the gap between her shoulder-blades.

Twelve dropped to the ground in a lifeless heap.

_Damn it._

Even with the advantage of the map and the Overseer's notes, my now former classmates were still unpredictables in my calculations. Fighting Seven would be a terrible plan without a weapon, but moving instead to one of my contingency plans this late into the exam wouldn't be much better, especially with Seven now watching the exits off the ridge with the thermal scope.

Then again, Twelve had managed to wound Seven in their brief fight, and I was still undetected. If I could just get the vibroknife from her waistband, I might still stand a chance.

Given the circumstances, it was the best plan I had. I couldn't move off the ridge without being spotted, and even if I could, entering the jungle below without a weapon of any sort while the others have had time to organize themselves was practically a suicide mission.

With gathered willpower I rolled slowly out of the mud, my eyes set firmly on Seven, who had lay back down on the edge of the ridge and was again looking carefully for her enemies below.

_Low center of gravity. Toes first._ I had to remember every lesson for quiet movement as I approached my mark from behind. Just a single sound would be all it would take for her to turn around and kill me, especially from this distance.

I closed the gap slowly, but surely, every small step bringing me closer to my goal. I crouched even lower when I was close enough to reach out and grab her, moving my arm ever closer towards the waistband of her mud and blood coated Imperial uniform.

Just grab the knife and kill her - simple.

But Seven was spectacularly fast, and her experience with unarmed fighting meant her instincts were well honed. The second my fingers closed around the hilt of the knife she was lashing out with her back foot, and low as I was crouched, her foot connected straight into my nose. I saw white light and my nose crunched under the pressure, but my training allowed me to keep a grip on the knife and roll out of the way of a second blow.

Seven pressed her advantage immediately, lashing out with a high kick that I managed to mostly avoid, her foot just grazing along my cold cheek. That didn't help either. My freezing body was slowing me, and against an opponent faster than I was at my best, that was a very bad thing.

"Fucker," Seven growled under breath, ducking under a clumsy forward slash I made with the knife. Just as in training, she whirled underneath the blow and got in close, striking my throat with a quick jab and causing me to cough before she got behind me with outrageous ease. The only solace was that I managed to keep the knife from her hands.

Still, under normal circumstances, that would be my end, but Twelve's attack had left Seven injured, and her grip on me with her injured shoulder was weaker than it should have been. I brute forced my arm free and grabbed blindly for her injured shoulder, clawing my hands into the wound with as much strength as I could muster.

Her scream echoed down the ridge, and the arm around my neck loosened.

Now with my knife-wielding hand free, I stabbed it behind me, feeling its sharp metal pierce through flesh and bone.

Another scream.

I stabbed blindly again, and again, until her screams were softer and more like gargles. When I turned, I had stabbed her in the stomach multiple times, and she was dropping to the ground, blood streaming into the mud.

Once, I would have found the image frightening, but now I simply plunged the knife into her heart, no hesitation.

My heart was racing, and I felt some weakness settle into my limbs as the world returned to silence other than the soft patter of rain. My nose was crooked and bleeding, and as the adrenaline faded the pain of my definitely broken nose could be felt more and more.

I couldn't let it slow me down. Seven's screams must have been heard, and I would have enemies closing in quickly. I grabbed the rifle and headed down the ridge, careful to check for enemies through the scope so I wasn't caught unawares.

 

* * *

 

Just as I thought, I watched through the scope as some of my enemies made their way towards the top of the ridge as I headed down its other side. By my count there was five of them, which meant they'd planned an alliance. With just their silhouettes showing through the scope it was impossible to tell who they were, but I had a feeling it was those of the higher ranks.

The top five had always stuck together throughout training, always looking down their noses at the rest of us while they tried to prove their superiority amongst their own elite group. There's no way that meant they trusted each other, but there was no _certainty_ there had to be only one survivor, so why not the five best? I felt differently. At most there would only be three, and the examiners wouldn't look kindly on the trainees mowing through their opponents from the safety of a group. Success would be better guaranteed alone as far as I was concerned.

My way off the ridge was clear though, and I managed to get back down into the jungle brush with relative ease. The scope was just as useful as I planned. Being able to tell the distance between myself and my nearest opponent meant that I could tell if I had the time to cover my own tracks. In both attack and defense, it was probably the most invaluable tool in the entire exam, at least from my perspective.

True, some of the others were armed with powerful blasters and explosives, and others still with devices that would allow them to set traps and set up defensive positions, but I valued awareness above all of that. With my low ranking I wouldn't have had the choice of one of the better tools anyway, but that didn't mean that I couldn't still use the one that I _had_ gotten, especially now.

The Synthecord I'd chosen would let me scale the trees of the jungle with absolute ease. It would've been useful simply to hide before I had the sniper and the vibroknife, but now I could use it in addition to them to set up ambushes against unsuspecting enemies. All I had to do was set up the device on the Sniper itself and I had an effective ascension gun.

Looking through the scope past my crooked, bleeding nose felt awkward, and I found it difficult to focus over the sensation of my freezing cold limbs. Still, I had to push through the discomfort, and try to find a target. It couldn't be any of the five up on the ridge. Even with the element of surprise on my side it would be too tough a fight, especially in comparison to those others who were alone.

Before long I was close to my next target, his thermals revealing him to me through the trees. Immediately I was using the Synthecord to rise high into a nearby tree, positioning myself onto a wide branch for stability. As big and burdensome as the sniper was, I'd need that stability if I was going to have any chance of taking down the opponent in one shot.

I still couldn't tell who it was, only being able to see their bright outline briefly through the trees, and it didn't help that they weren't taking any chances. They moved quick and agile from cover to cover, never stopping in one place for even a moment.

That was okay. I'd only need one shot, and with the scope, I could line them up without needing perfect vision. I took a deep breath and watched him through the scope, slowly moving the sniper along with my target's movement, aimed straight at their torso. The shot might not kill them outright, but it was more likely to hit than a head-shot, and at the very least it would likely incapacitate them.

_The moment between breaths._ The training had taught me accuracy, too, and I was sure I could make the shot.

The second the target moved out of cover, I fired, and a flash of red filled my vision. I watched through the scope as the target dropped, and I heard the faint grunt of pain as the bolt struck true. Lightning arced through the sky as I used the Synthecord to lower myself back out of the tree, never taking my aim off the target. I approached the same way, gun still held aloft in front of me, just in case it was a grazing shot and my enemy was goading me closer.

That wasn't the case though. It was Fifteen this time, a human male probably only a couple of years older than myself. His hands were balling at his chest, as though he could stem the damage from where the blaster bolt pierced him straight through. He was coughing and crying, and when I got to his side he looked up at me with wide and desperate eyes. I couldn't afford to feel guilt. Fifteen was probably the nicest and sweetest amongst our class, but in our situation that was a hindrance, rather than a strength. I fired once more, this time going for a kill-shot. In a flash of red light he was gone.

 

* * *

 

I hadn't been able to find a good target for nearly two hours after Fifteen's death. I could definitely see the others through my scope, but an attack on any one of them would have been more risky than I could afford to be. They were too often close to others, or in a couple of cases, allied with another.

That was fine though. With my Synthecord I could simply hide in the trees and watch from afar as my enemies killed each other off. The only downside was that I wouldn't get any more equipment to help me secure my victory. I still had plenty of ammunition for the Sniper, assuming I wasn't going to be missing shots, and the vibroknife as well, but neither would help me too much at mid-range. The Sniper was too big to aim quickly under pressure, especially compared to a pistol or repeating blaster, which my adversaries more than likely had access to.

This far into the test, most of us looked to already be dead. Through the scope now the only ones I could see were the alliance of high ranks, the group of still five who had roamed the area and killed every person they come across. By my count they'd killed seven, and that was just from what I'd witnessed from afar through the thermal scope.

There was always the chance that there were still a couple more, hiding well amongst the thick brush, but I'd seen no real action for about half an hour now, and it was also possible that I was the only one left besides them.

That was _not_ good.

I knew that facing more than one was always probable, but the chances of at least _one_ of the high ranks getting killed seemed inevitable, and would definitely have increased my chances. As things looked though, it would be me versus the five best in our class. Those were very bad odds indeed.

To think that I was worried about fighting One alone under _any_ circumstances, and now I might have to face him while he's backed by the strongest underneath him?

_Shit._

Still, I waited. There was a chance, a small chance perhaps, that if they couldn't find me they might finally turn on each other. With the scope I could tell if they were getting close, and there was no real reason I shouldn't be able to elude them.

But that's obviously not how the examiners wanted things to play out. No doubt they were watching with their numerous surveillance drones, and they'd seen the predicament I'd found myself in. Using the drones as a mouthpiece, they announced that my fear was correct, there were only the six of us left.

Their intention was clear. They were testing me, even now. Unless the five higher ranks turned on each other, they wanted me to fully pit myself against all of them. I couldn't dwell on why the examiners might want that. It either meant they believed I could succeed, or they _didn_ _'t_ think so, and wanted me out of the way. Either way, I didn't really have much choice.

I'd been opposing it from the start, but now I would have to actually move _towards_ the group of my enemies, rather than keeping them at a distance. I needed to get a better vantage, to come up with a plan, any plan, that might still secure me a victory.

A few deep breaths was enough to assuage my nerves, but I couldn't get rid of them completely. I hadn't _truly_ felt them since the day I left Nar Shaddaa, but now, under these circumstances, I was genuinely afraid. I'd been so confident after finding the map in the Overseers office that victory felt like a foregone conclusion, even if I was logically telling myself different. That was stupid. Where people are involved, no outcome is certain.

I watched the group carefully through my scope as I approached, staying low on the ground and behind the thick brush so they wouldn't see me. Just as I thought, it was the top five ranks. Two Chiss, three Humans. That at least was good. Chiss and Humans have no species advantage, no increased sense of hearing or smell that they could discover me with. If I was careful, I would still have surprise on my side.

But even grouped together like they were, their guard was still very clearly up, though honestly I should have expected that. Alliance or no, each of them must have been acutely aware of how they might have to turn on each other at any given moment. No doubt they'd been just as on edge together as I was by myself.

_That_ _'s it._

There was no way I could properly take on all five. They all had the same training I did, and even if I could take one or two, getting all five would be impossible. It was foolish to think otherwise.

But I still had a chance. If I could somehow make them turn on each other…

A smile made it's way onto my features as a makeshift plan jumped into my head. None of them _truly_ trusted each other, and that was a weakness that I might be able to use against them.

I'd have to be silent, not even making enough sound for them to be suspicious. If I could just kill _one_ of them without the others seeing I'd have a chance. As nervous as they are around each other, one of them dropping dead without knowing who did it might be enough to make them turn on each other. At the very least, it would mean I was against four rather than five.

It wouldn't be an easy shot, given how cautious they were. They moved in formation, all trying to cover for the other's blindspots. But with the Sniper I had more range than they did, and all it would take is one mistake for me to take advantage. I saw my opening before long, firing through the scrub the exact moment that the person on the right turned their head away. The silence that followed felt long and torturous. Through the scope I watched my target drop to the ground, and the other four figures turn sharply to watch him.

It was the moment it could all have gone wrong.

If they'd even seen the blaster bolt out of peripheral vision, they would know my location, and I'd be running for my life. Their hesitation told me otherwise. They might still not believe the attacker was amongst them, of course, but at least their hesitation meant they didn't know where I was. Worst case scenario, I had a chance to escape.

But through the scope I watched as One rolled away from the others with incredible speed, getting cover from behind a nearby tree. I was still at a distance, but I could hear yelling from their location, and weapons left their holsters. Only the storm could be heard as I watched weapons aimed at each other, just as I hoped. But then they did _exactly_ what I didn't want them to, and moved to examine the body of their fallen comrade.

_Shit._

The second they saw the entry wound, they'd know it was none of them who fired the bolt. It meant I had two choices. Run and try again later, which they would be expecting, or try to take them now. The only advantage I still had was that they didn't know my _exact_ location, though that would soon change. Also, with the Sniper I had better range.

Run, or fight?

Or win?

My chances of _that_ greatly increased when the person examining the body rose back to their feet. From the shape of him I could guess that it was Three, the Chiss explosives expert. At his waist hung a small ball, dangling as he got back to his feet.

A thermal detonator, and a chance for my victory.

A near impossible shot, but still my best bet.

Time felt like it was moving slower as I once again held the Sniper steady in my hands, shifting the gun ever so slightly so it was aimed at Three's waist, just a tiny bit off to the side. Now he was pointing my way, clearly able to see the direction the first bolt had come from.

It was now or never. A single moment and they'd all be moving, either for cover like One or directly towards me. Either way, movement meant the shot would more than likely miss.

I waited no longer than the cross-hairs to land on the explosives before I pulled the trigger. For a moment I thought I'd missed, but by some trick of light the bolt seemed to veer into my target.

_Boom._

It wasn't as big an explosion as I was expecting, but it was definitely big enough to do what I wanted it to. I was on my feet and running for their position just a heartbeat later, determined to finish off whoever was left. It was risky, running in once the explosion had rendered my thermal scope useless, but the chaos it caused would have to be advantage enough. More than likely it had killed them anyway, but I had to be certain.

I sprinted out of the thick brush and out into the open, Sniper held aloft. It was an awkward way to use it, but it was the best I had. At least, until I saw the dropped blaster from one of the now scorched bodies. Cautiously, but quick as I could afford to be, I reached down and grabbed it.

My legs were swept from under me at that exact moment, and my head cracked into the muddy ground, hard. The world seemed to spin, but I moved immediately, spinning off to the side as the butt of a repeating blaster came slamming down.

I lashed out with my leg, and connected with something, though through my dizziness it was hard to tell what. Then there was a low grunt of pain, but it didn't sound like One, the only person I expected to still be alive. Through blurry vision I could make out Two, her face burned and bleeding, and eyeing me with a look as vicious and angry as I'd ever seen.

She'd made me drop the pistol, but she still had her rifle. I moved immediately, trying to regain my advantage. I dived forwards, almost slipping in the mud as she groggily lifted her gun to shoot me down. Somehow I managed to get my knife in hand, and I thrust it upwards as I came out of a forward roll. With no resistance the knife went straight between her ribs, and she stagged backwards, me moving along with her.

I let the knife go and grabbed the repeating blaster out of her dying hands. My head was still spinning, but somewhere I registered noise from behind me, and I whirled around, the rifles sight in front of my eye.

One stood across from me, his own gun aimed right back at me.

He didn't have a mark on him. No ripped clothes, no burn marks from the explosion, not even a drop of his enemies blood marring his perfect uniform. Only the rain had influenced his appearance in any way, making his hair stick to his forehead and droplets of water run down his blue Chiss features.

I on the other hand probably looked like hell. I had a broken, bloody nose and my clothes were coated in red blood. Nonetheless, I'd made it to this point, my finger on the trigger just like his. I prepared myself to shoot, to finally end it one way or another.

"STOP!"

The voice that came was the same as the one that had announced only six trainees still left. The examiners.

"Trainee One, Trainee Seventeen. Congratulations. It is over."


End file.
